Time to find a new Dock for Eximius

Looking for a new Dock for Eximius

Our Dock-lord is selling their home, so we need to find a new dock for our boat.

We live in Margate Florida and hoping to find a dock closer to the Ocean than our current 1.5 hour motor from the dock to the Ocean along with 5 bridges including one Brightline Railroad Crossing  bridge on the New River of Fort Lauderdale.

SV Eximius is a 1987 Catalina 34.

34' LOA very well maintained with all of the latest Electronics and Safety Equipment - Our Insurance is with Boat US = Geico

11'7" Beam

5'8" Draft

52' Air Draft

We have owned Eximius since May of 2015 and have kept her at the dock in Fort Lauderdale since that date. The Owner is selling his property, hence our need to find a new dock.

We are active members of the Hillsboro Inlet Sailing Club, I am a Past Commodore and am currently the Staff Commodore.

We have lived in Margate since I arrived in the USA after serving 25 years in the Royal Navy, retiring in 1989 with the rank of Chief Petty Officer. Retiring again in 2016 as owner of an Internet Software Developer for Retail Businesses and Orgnaizations.

My wife, Peggy, a retired Cardiac Care Nurse, originally from Ohio has lived here, in Margate, for the past 40 years.

So if anyone knows of an available dock for rent, we are not liveaboards! And we do not leave the Shore power or Dock Water, attached to the boat, then please reach out to us. If you leave a comment with a phone number or call me at Nine Five Four, Seven Three Six, Seven One One Four.

Thanks.

Paul

Tweaking our Solar Power

Changing our Solar Setup from Parallel to Serial Panels

After I updated our Solar Panels in 2020, In July 2023 I found one of the older panels was damaged and the other two were not putting out the expected power. So I decided to update the system.

I built a new Solar Panel Mounting Frame on top of the Bimini and replaced the old panels with 3 new 200W panels. They were connected in Parallel. I also changed out the MPPT Controller with a Victron MPPT 100| 50 Smart Solar Charger. 

The system has been running fine for the past year and they charge my 3 x 100Ah Chins LiFePo4 batteries by noon most days, but then I rarely took them down below 80%.

I'm working on a couple of other projects, one of them being to replace our Propane Cooking equipment with an Induction Cooktop and a Combo Air Fryer / Toaster Oven. From the tests I have done so far the Electrical System will be able to handle that, but it does mean that the SOC will probably drop below 50% more often.

Another project on the drawing board ( ok, Google Drawings ) is adding Davits to the Stern and that means I'll have room for another 200W panel.

With the existing Panels in Parallel the panels combined Voltage is the same as a single panel ( them all being the same size.) but a higher current.  The higher current means a higher voltage drop at the Controller and that's a loss of power.

Ok, where am I going with this?

Should I change the Panel connection to Series?

My conclusion is 'Yes' and here's why.

In Series the panels Voltages are combined but the Current ( ampage ) is not. So the Voltage drop is much less.

If I change to a Series layout, then I could add panels without exceeding the current capacity of the Mppt Controller.

Now, this is an easy process. I simply Turn off the Solar Power inlet to the MPPT Controller, Shade the panels so that they are not producing any power, disconnect the Panels from the Parallel connectors. Re connect them in Series and then turn the power back on.  That took me all of 15 minutes.

No changes needed on the MPPT Controller and, as shown by the graph below the system is fully functional.

The Graph shows the MPPT Controller Input Voltage and Current for the month of August ( 2024) to date ( 18th ) 

It clearly shows that the voltage peaked around 20v and the current at 57amps prior to the system change and then the Voltage peaked to 49v and the current peaked to around 25amps.

Note. On the 16th of August, I ran the Air Conditioning on battery power from around 10am until 11:40am and the Battery SOC dropped to 66.5% and a some of that was with Solar Disconnected.

Back to the Why do this?

• We're going to replace the Propane System with an Induction Cooker & Air Fryer.
• We have learned that we can run our AC on Batteries for about 4 hours, more if we're prepared to expend a Battery Cycle and take them down to 20 or 30%

If we do add Davits and can add another panel, then we'll have 800Watts of and that should improve our Battery Charging time.

Oh, we have a 100Amp Alternator on the Engine but have it detuned to only 75Amps. If we needed to, then we could retune it and run the Engine at high RPM at Anchor ( or on the Move ) to charge the batteries in times of poor solar production.

I'll monitor the system over the next few weeks. We're making progress on refinishing the non-skid areas of the deck and so we'll have the chance to drop the battery SOC when we keep the cabin cooler while we do the work.  Should get some good date.  I'm hoping to see the Solar Production ramp, up in good weather, to over 400 Watts.

Stay tuned.

Want to see the current data? It's shown on Victron World just click here to view Eximius

Upgrading from Propane Cooking on Eximius

Should we switch from a Propane to Electric Cooker?

Eximius has a Propane Gas Double Burner Stovetop and a Small Oven. In the 9 years that we have owned the boat, I have only used the Oven 3 times, twice to Bake Bread and once to Cook Shrimp for a 'Bring Something to Share'.  Now it's not that I don't want to use the oven, it's simply that we live and sail in South Florida and the Bahamas - it's HOT and using the Oven makes it worse!  

The two burner cooktop is not really suitable for 2 pans, so I mostly use a single pan - a 10" Skillet to cook a full English breakfast. We also make a pot of coffee every morning using a 'kettle' to boil the water and a Pour Over Filter system. It doesn't matter what we cook on the 'stove' it dramatically increases the temperature in the cabin.

Recently for our home kitchen, we purchased an 8qt Instant Pot and love it! I mean, we really love to cook with it. At least twice a week we cook using the Instant Pot ( it's not 'InstaPot', it's 'Instant Pot' ). I looked up the power draw of the 3qt Instant Pot and it's only 700Watts. So I bought one for the boat - it gets a lot better! When we pressure cook with the InstantPot, it only draws the max of 700Watts for a few minutes. As soon as it gets up to pressure, that drops to almost zero watts! In fact it barely switches back up to 700W for less than a minute every few to five minutes - WOW This is very doable, especially as we have 300Ah at 12v = 3,600Watts of power or 3600Watt Hours. If we ran the InstantPot for a full hour and it never switched down to 0Watts, then it would only consume 700Watt Hours our of 3,600Watt Hours. Ok, due to inefficiencies of the conversion of battery power to AC 110v it's a bit more, but still in the order of just 20% of our available battery power - and we'll never have it running like that for a whole hour.

Of course, the question arises " Could we switch our Propane System for Electric"? 

From research ( OK, YouTube ) we found a lot of cruisers were switching over to Induction Cooking. So we looked into cooking on Eximius using an Induction Cooktop.

Typical Double Induction Cooktop

Most of the Induction Cooktops we found take a max power of 1,800 Watts and the 'power' setting allows for selecting from 200Watts to 1800Watts with as many as 10 steps between them. A lot of cruisers have advised that they typically use between 30% to 50% of Max power and because Induction Cookers cause the pan to get hot rather than heat a surface which is then conducted to the pan, it's a lot more efficient.

Things to consider when deciding if we should do this? Let's break it down:

• How do we use our cooker and How would we use an Induction Cooktop?
• How much power would the Induction cooker use and could we recharge the batteries reasonably quickly?
• How much would the new cooktop cost
• What size cooktop would fit where our current cooktop is located.
• How would we gimbal the new cooktop - just in case we ever needed to cook under sail.
• How would we provide power to the cooktop?

So let's start - how do we use our existing cooker and how would we use an Induction Cooktop ( ICT ) 

Coffee: no change, we would boil a kettle of water just as we do now.

Breakfast: no change, we would cook using the same skillet we use now, it's an Induction suitable skillet.

Lunch: no change,

Dinner: no change, but if we wanted to use the Instant Pot and the ICT at the same time, that might be an issue - so just set a rule - one cooker at a time.

If we installed a Double Induction Cooktop, then we might be able to use two pans at the same time, still no more than the 1800Watt maximum, it's just split between the two cooking surfaces. Right now, we cannot put two pans on the Propane stove top because the second pan would not fit on the 2nd gas ring. That's why we only use one pan on the propane cook top.

Ok, so the Induction cooker would not be any issue when cooking  - but what if we ran our of battery power to low? The same question should be asked ' What if we ran out of Gas' Well, we can recharge the batteries with the engine and Solar - but no gas would be an issue until we got back to a port and then hope that they had Propane and that the Cannisters had suitable adapters - we have two 9lb Propane tanks on the boat.

Moving on. How much power would the Induction cooker use and could we recharge the batteries reasonably quickly?

• We have 600Watts of Solar panels and we have seen over 300 Watts of power from them but that is normally when the batteries are nearly fully charged - It should be much higher when the batteries are at a much lower charge status.
• The Engine has a 100A Alternator which could produce 1200watts but we have it detuned to 75% so 800Watts That charges the battery in just a few hours. ( We never have the engine idling unless we are in Neutral waiting for a bridge to open ) 
• Shore power does not come into the equation - so we'll ignore that.

 How much would the new cooktop cost?

• The good news is that a double Induction Cooktop typically costs less than $300, some less than $200 and Single Induction cooktops can cost less than $100
• I would prefer that the 110v outlet for an Induction Cooktop would have it's own outlet and controlled by a breaker on our 110v AC Panel ( We have heard of cookers turning on when something, like a window covering, was laid over it and subsequently burning. The manufactures recommend turning off the power for the cooktop when not use. So we might have to spend about $50 to add a new outlet and run wires to it from the control panel.
• We would have to modify our existing cooking location too. But that should not cost more than say $50 to do that. I'm handy ;) 
• All told, it should cost less than $400 easily.

What size cooktop would fit where our current cooktop is located?

• There's not a lot of difference between the various brands of Induction Cooktops, they mostly come in a round Rectangular shape with the controls on the front edge of the unit, but I have seen one brand that has the controls on a remote component that has about a 24" wire between the Control unit and the Cooktop.
• The round models are somewhere between 10" and 12" wide and perhaps 14" to 16" deep ( front to back ) 
• The Double cooktop models are mostly between 16" wide and 22+" wide and 14" to 16" deep.
• Our existing Propane cooktop has the following dimensions ( inside edges pot holders ) a Depth of 13.75" and a Width of 19.68". So we have quite a range ( no pun intended ) of models to chose from.
• For future info, the Oven internal size is:- Depth of 10.23", Width of 15.50" and Height of 13.2" - Noted because we're also considering an Electric Convection / Air Fryer oven. 
• Note:- It would take a huge amount of work to widen the space where our Propane cooker is installed, so the max width of the Induction cooker would be 22"  and there are very few that fit that size. So it might mean we have to go with a single burner Induction cooktop, but I'm still looking.

How would we gimbal the new cooktop - just in case we ever needed to cook under sail.

• We have watched dozens of conversion done by cruisers. Some have made a wooden gimbaled shelf and added lead weights to the underside to create a stable cooktop holder. Others have cannibalized their propane stove and built the new Induction Cooktop into the top of the old stove - big advantage is that the old stovetop has Pot Holders to keep the pans in place when the stove does gimbal due to the boat heeling.
• One boat, a Catamaran, simply added a butcher block bread cutting board where the old propane stove was located and did not gimble the cooker - not an option for us.
• So, if we did convert, we would cannibalize the existing cooker. It already has the gimbles that work and would be easiest method of installing an Induction Cooktop

How would we provide power to the cooktop?

• We have a spare breaker on our 110V AC Control Panel - it was used for our old Inverter but is not used with our new Victron Inverter/Charger.
• I would run a new piece of conduit from the control panel around the boat above the water line to a new outlet at the galley.
• The power would come from our Victron Inverter powered by 300Ah LiFePo4 batteries ( and I might even expand that with a 2nd 300Ah battery bank. But dpn't get me started on that concept ---- yet!)

Other factors to consider.

• We would not need to carry the two 9lb Propane tanks which are mounted on the stern rail of Eximius - In fact, they are worth about $200 each and the tank holders are probably worth another $200 each - the whole propane tank system, including the pressure gauge and the solenoid are definitely worth around $500 - certainly makes the conversion more appealing.
• Moving the Propane tanks off of the stern rail also makes it easier to install Davits on the stern - that's another project I hope to complete this year.
• I could remove the CO detector - replace it with just a smoke detector.
• One more hole in the stern combing that I could close off ( less stuff to leak ) 
• We have two new skillets that are Induction Cookware, but our Magma Stovetop Nesting cookware is not compatible. But see the rest of this article for an update.
• We could run our fans in the galley without fear that they would blow the cooktop flames out. 
• Wouldn't need to carry a barbeque lighter - Induction cooktops can be used as a grill with suitable cookware.

Lastly, if we removed the Propane tanks from the boat that would change the C of G slightly, they probably weigh about 30lb to 40lb. Additionally, removing them would significantly improve the safety ( no explosive gas on the boat ).

I think I have made the decision - Let's do it!

The plan

Purchase a portable, single Induction Cooktop that fits the top of our existing stove. Power it from the existing Galley outlet and try it out on the boat to see how the real world power consumption plays out.

If the power is ok, then find a suitable Double Burner top mounted Induction cooktop ( see update below). Then remove the Propane tanks. Disconnect the Propane hose from the existing cooker and remove the cooker - bring it home and do the conversion for the cooktop ( that includes removing the oven - we'll use that space something even is just storage for now.

On the boat, run the new power cables and conduit, install the new outlet, clean up everything and install the cooker - with Induction cooktop - onto the boat.

Cleanup the Gas cylinder holders and sell them.

Go sailing in the Bahamas - and "cookup" a storm.

After receiving an email from one of the Induction cooktop vendors on Amazon, I purchased this cooktop. It's a 1200Watt cooktop and only cost - Wait for it - $38.87 plus tax. I ordered at 10:45pm June 10th, it was waiting on our doorstep at 7:30am this morning! 

We tested it after lunch, boiling a kettle of water for making coffee. It boiled a full pot in 10mins on Max - Not bad for a 1200W cooktop, the Coffee was good too!

This evening I cooked a couple of slices of garlic Rye Bread with Cheese & Tomatoes, it took about 8 minutes on power level 5. 

I do not have the ability to measure the power consumption of the cooktop at home but we will do that in the next few days on the boat.

Update to the plan, we're going to hold off replacing the propane cooker until after I complete the more urgent task of refinishing the non-skid deck. Of course, it's rainy season, so that might be few weeks.

Meanwhile I have ordered some metal hooks to make some hold down straps for our Instant Pot on top of the Boos Board sitting snuggly on our cooktop.

More testing

We had a 4 day 3 night cruise for the July 4th Celebration and only used the Induction cooktop. WOW!

The power consumption was well inside our battery capacity even using the cooker for Coffee, Breakfast, and 2 Dinners. We also ran the AC for a couple of hours due to our Generator failing ( already fixed that.) 

Max power consumption was 750Watts and I kept the Cooktop power setting to less than #6, mostly on #3. So I'm totally sold on the idea and am making more plans to change out from Propane.

Knowing that our Magma Cooking pans do not work on Induction cooktops meant finding replacements. 

I found this set on Amazon ( yep, I buy a lot from Amazon ) 

Tested them on the boat and they work great on the Induction Cooktop. The single handle fits each pan the lid only fits on the Saucepan. But they do fit nicely in the net bag and they fit beneath our cooker ( there's even enough room if we do replcae the cooker. 

So making progress even if only one pan at a time.

What about the Oven?

Well, if we remove the Propane we won't be able to use the gas oven as mentioned, we don't use it a lot. However, talking with some boat buddies that have electric ovens and have replaced them with Combo Air Fryer - Toaster ovens, that looks like it will work for us - I might even be able to bake bread on the boat ( Oh how I dream of taking the boat to places where, if I need fresh bread, I can bake bread instead of keeping store bought ( ugh! ) bread in the freezer.

Looking around for a suitable cooker I found several and, as usual, I made a list of the pros and cons of the genre that might work for us.

Power: - No more than 1800 Watts

Outside Dimensions: Fit within the existing cooker stainless walls - else would need a custom case to hold the Air Fryer Combo.

Inside Dimensions: Big enough to bake a loaf of bread ( and at least 360ºF )

Controls: The 'printed' controls on our Propane cooker have virtually disappeared, so no printed controls. Preferably Digital controls and Engraved glass 'buttons'

Here's a cooktop I found on Amazon. it fits within the area of the top of the propane cooker as explained previously in this post.

Another thing to consider is the Storage of the pieces. ie. This Induction Cooktop has a Skillet that fits the entire surface and a cover that goes on top of the skillet. Where would we store those.

Perhaps use them as a backsplash to the cooker. Hmm, that might work.

If I end up making a complete cooker mounting cabinet then I could leave a storage space beneath the cooktop ( above the Air Fryer/Combo Toaster Oven ) 

I like that idea!

Back to work.

Refinishing the Non-Skid surface of the deck

 Part II of Refinishing the Non-Skid on Eximius' Deck

I originally ordered the materials for refinishing the Non-Skid decking on Eximius back in 2021 but life got in the way to get the job done. In 2023 I got started by removing the Anchor Locker Lids, bringing them home and refinishing them in my garage so that I could get comfortable with the process.

Here's a link to the original post

This year I'm determined to get the job done and started this week - July 31st 2024.

Step one was to put the boat shade covers over the deck hoping to reduce the temperature of the surface, then it was time to prep the Turtle Hatch cover ( the cover that goes over the Companionway Hatch ) as I did when I worked on the Anchor Locker Lids ( try saying that quickly ).

After cleaning it I taped it off trying my best to make the rounded corners neat. I applied the tape so that it was just outside the edge of the Non-Skid gray finish. A final clean after using the 3m sanding pad to prep the surface I was ready to apply the first coat of Primer.

I mixed just a little less primer than needed but was able to cover the entire surface of the Turtle cover. It was a bit awkward getting the roller beneath the traveler track in the center as the Turtle cover is curved upwards in the middle from side to side. 

Next day, I cleaned down the surface with just a blower, not even any bugs on the primer. This time I mixed a little more primer and was easily able to cover the entire surface.

Onto day 3. Same process, clean the surface with a blower, no bugs, and mix up the Awlgrip Polyester Urethane Topcoat Base Paint. Ok, screwed up again, this time I mixed too much but basically because the mixture is 1:1:1:0.1 of the Base, Converter, Flattening agent and the Reducer. I mixed 200% of what was needed. 

With the first coat of Top coat applied, I did a few other jobs around the boat including figuring out how I'm going to install the new Curtain Rails but that's another post.

Before leaving the boat, I tossed all of the spoiled cleaning rags, rollers, mixing cups into a bucket and brought them home. Later in the evening I emptied the bucket into the trash can - the Roller for the Top Coat was hard! Awesome.

Tomorrow is Saturday and I plan to go and apply the 2nd Top Coat but the weather may hinder that, we have a storm coming over Cuba, it's expected to head up the West Coast of Florida so we might be ok and I'll be able to paint. I have reached out to Jamestown Distributors ( they supplied the paints ) for advice on what I should do if I cannot apply the 2nd top coat soon enough. I'm guessing there might be a bit of extra prep.

I also ordered another pint of the converter for the top coat as the can I have has only a few ounces left.  There's enough for doing the Turtle cover.

( The Pic is a 1 Gallon can, I ordered a 1Pint can = $100.08 )

So we'll see how it goes in the morning.

Of course, Jamestown got back to me just after I published this post. They simply say that I should sand the surface ( I'll use the 3m Sanding Pads ) and wipe it down. I'm guessing with Awlgrip Awl-Prep Surface Cleaner AWL-T0008 but I've asked for confirmation on that.

I'll update this as soon as I get a reply.

That didn't take long. Jamestown replied. Wipe down is with the Reducer, not the cleaner.

Nearly the 4th of July

Independence Day Cruise 2024

Our Cruise to Celebrate Independence Day this year nearly didn't happen but we pulled it off even if we were a day late.

Life happens so we spent the 4th of July at home and enjoyed watching the fireworks over the rooftops of our neighbors houses.  But we did plan for the cruise and to leave the dock early on Friday the 5th.

We had prepped the boat and so loading on Friday only took a few minutes, but we still went through our checks- Water √ , Shore Power  √,  Fore & Aft Whips removed  √,    Nav Instruments Installed and Checked   √,    Opening Ports Closed   √,    Anchor Locker, Aft Locker, Port Side Locker locks removed √,  Engine Raw Water valve opened √,  DST810 Transducer installed √,  Ear Tec headsets - batteries installed √,  Cabin Secured for Sea √, Genoa Sail tie back removed √,  Mainsail Cover Zipper opened √,  Main Halyard slack removed √,  Engine Start and check Pulse** √,  Fore & Aft Dock lines removed √,  Fore & Aft spring lines removed √,  Ready to depart the dock - Helm ready? √,  Cast off Midships line and walk the boat away from the dock. Stow the dock lines. We're underway.

Without any issues we navigated to the end of the canal and turned to Stbd ( right for those that don't know ) then a couple of twists and turns before arriving at the 11th Avenue Swing Bridge. Around a few more bends and we are at the junction where the New River splits to the South and North, we keep Eximius up the North Fork of the New River.

As we passed the 7th. Avenue Bridge, we could see that the FEC Railroad bridge was starting to open so we were lucky, it was expected to be closed for another 30 minuets according to their phone App. So we passed the Railroad bridge, Andrews Avenue bridge opened without any delay and then 3rd Avenue bridge was the last in the line and we had an uneventful motor all the way to the Mouth of the Port Everglades Inlet.

Once on the Ocean, we turned North East but the wind was veering with us so when we turned North, the wind was pretty much on our stern and our Apparent wind was on the Bow, we were not going to get much assist from the sails, we tried, but nope! So we basically motored all the way up to the Hillsboro Inlet. There was 3+ Knots of current flowing out of the Inlet Bridge but we pushed through it just fine. The Bridge Tender commented that we had quite a wild ride through the opened bridge.

It's a bit of a slog heading up the ICW from the Hillsboro Inlet to Lake Boca and the still flowing South Tide meant we could not make it to the first bridge 'Hillsboro Blvd' in time for it's net opening so we had to slow down in order to get there just before the 13:30 opening, we then had 30 minutes to get up to the Camino Real Bridge which opens on the 20's ( 20 past, 20 to and 00 ) then we arrived at Lake Boca which was not too crowded.

Anticipating that we would raft up with Hector & Lucy on Alebrije later that day, we chose a place to anchor but a couple of other boats arrived and spoilt that option. So when Alebrije arrived later in the afternoon, we decided we would move to raft up with them on Saturday morning.

We put our Shade up on the boat and that helped a lot in keeping the cabin temperature down to about 95ºF . So we wet up our Generator to run the Air Conditioning, noisy but much cooler. Our Dinghy is on the deck and it's a significant amount of work to lift it over the side of Eximius and then put the outboard on the dink, so we left it under the boat shade.

One new thing this trip was our 'Portable Induction Cooktop'  It's a test project, if it worked out then we'll be installing a full Induction cooktop in place of the Propane cooker. Well it did work out, it's amazing! It runs off of our Victron Multiplus 3000 inverter and our LiFePo4 Batteries. Totally sold on this idea and will make it happen before the end of the year.

Saturday morning, after a too warm overnight, we confirmed that Hector was ready for us to come alongside and we hoisted anchor. Peggy at the helm, I setup the fenders and lines from the Bow, Stern and Midships for when we got alongside Alebrije.  We both had our Ear Tec headsets on and so were able to quietly talk to each other, that was a big factor in our pretty perfect raft up. Hector and Lucy were on deck to take our lines, Hector put out a couple of his really big fenders. His fenders are the inflatable type, I think they are FenderTex really good.  Ours are Taylor made and we have soft fender jackets covering them so we don't mark any boat that we raft up with.

I ran Eximius' generator so that we could have AC on the boat, while I was chatting with Hector and explaining how to get a bit more out of AquaMaps on our tablets, the generator ran out of fuel. We didn't notice that while sat in the cabin with Lucy still working on her computer. The good news is that our neighbors can barely hear it when our generator ( Honda eu2000i ) is running. The bad news is that the temperature aboard Eximius was starting to rise back up to 90CF.

Nothing broke down this weekend but I did notice, again, that our opening port lights in the cabin and v-berth were pretty badly crazed. I took a couple of pics, this one shows how bad some of the ports are. I'll order replacement lenses from Catalina Direct.  This will be part of our window treatments work as we are also installing new Curtains and replacing the fixed port lights in the Cabin.

Aboard Alebrije, as always happens, Hector and I shared about new things we had on our boats. There's something about two sailors wagging their chins on boat stuff. It's surprising how much you learn by listening to 'What's New' and there are always stories to share.

Later Lady Gray joined us and tied onto Alebrije's Port Side. Barry & Jamie had guests that are not really sailors but that only added to the expanse of conversations over the, always pleasant, Bring Something To Share dinner. So there were eight of us and two dogs aboard Alebrije and we pretty much solved the worlds problems. 

This was a short cruise for Lady Grey, they left sometime while I was down inside Eximius. Hector and I had planned to break the raftup Sunday morning so that they could head out of the lake via Boca Inlet. That surprised me, but we discussed recent changes to the dredging of the Inlet and Hector was confident that it would not be an issue. When it was time to breakup the raft, Peggy took the helm, and we cast off  the lines ( they were our  lines but I'm not sure there is a term for brining the lines back rather than 'cast off' ). We just pushed ourselves away from Alebrije and motored ahead of her, we made a long 360º to port by which time Hector had his boat heading to the North East corner of the lake and we snuck into his previous anchoring position. 

We spent the rest of Sunday at Lake Boca, Eduardo ( Cookie Monster ) invited us for dinner but our dinghy was stowed on deck and it's a real chore getting it into the water and putting the engine on, so we took a rain check.  Before dark, we took down the boat shades and prepped the boat for an early departure Monday morning.

Our prep the night before proved valuable on Monday Morning, we were able to have a light breakfast and setup the helm for raising the anchor and heading down to catch the 0700 Camino Real bridge opening. With 30 minutes between Camino opening and the Hillsboro Blvd Bridge opening we had plenty of time and just motored slowly past all the mansions on either side of the ICW barely a soul stirring and we only saw two other boats during that half hour.

The motor from Hillsboro Blvd Bridge down to the Hillsboro Inlet bridge is typically about an hour and we didn't have to push it. The bridge opens on the 15's if any boat requests it, we arrived a few minutes early and so had to hold station opposite the bridge, still hardly any other boats under power. 

We followed our track from when we came into the Inlet on Friday and had no issues with the depths. Once out of the Inlet we turned towards the south and headed for Port Everglades. There may have been no boats on the ICW, but there were quite a few on the Ocean, mostly fishing boats with a few dive boats and one drift fishing boat, it was a bit rolly to be on the drift boat and they were not packed - maybe around 20 souls onboard all toghether. 

The only concerns were the dive boats. Like everyone else, we have to give them 300' clearance so as to keep their diver safe, when we spot a dive boat ahead, I simply change course by 30º until we clear them and then 30º back before resuming our track.  Some dive boats have huge dive flags that can be seen a quarter mile away, others have the flags so that they cannot be seen all the way around and they are the most concerning. If they don't know how to fly their safety dive flags, then do they know all of the other safety procedures for their divers.

Again the wind was not worth keeping the sails up, so we dropped them, setup the Auto Pilot and kept an eye out for challenges in front of us, we probably look like desert rats when we keep popping our heads our of the cockpit to check for other vessels but it keeps us aware of our situation.

As we approached Port Everglades, we noticed a pretty big ship was heading down the channel from our Port Side, it was not going slow either! I timed it so that it would pass us in the channel while it was still wide enough for both of us. Of course, it slowed down so now we were abeam of the ship. I called them on the VHF radio and asked if they were going to turn to Stbd ( North ) or Port ( South ) so that I could decide to either speed up to get out of their way or slow down and let her do her thing. The skipper replied they were stopping in order to turn around to Stbd as they were going to back into the slip that was directly opposite the Inlet. I decided to speed up and just get past the turning basin before he began his, Tug assisted, turn. He had started his turn by the time we had turned North towards the 17th street causeway bridge. 

I called 17th Street bridge to let him know we did not need an opening. It was not high tide and even then, we can squeeze under the bridge in the middle if the Fender boards show just 52' of clearance.

We have done the trip from the bridge to Sand Bar Park so many times it's routine, but we still comment on every channel marker, it's so easy to get distracted and mistake our track. We had no surprises as we took the left hand fork to go on the West side of Sand Bar Park and then the hard to Port when we passed marker #5. 

Heading up the New /river, we checked the FEC railroad bridge schedule on the phone app and learnt that the bridge was going to be down, so we slowed. As we approached the Andrews Avenue Bridge, I called and requested an opening but acknowledged that the FEC bridge was down so I could hang round between 3rd and Andrews if needed. Andrews replied that the FEC bridge was only down for a single Brightline train and so he would open the bridge right away, I guess traffic was light at that time.

By the time we approached the FEC Bridge it was already opening, so we just had to slow down to let it fully raise, then we motored through. The 7th Avenue bridge must have anticipated our arrival and was ready to open as we turned past the Huzinga center, then it was a quite motor to the Fork of the New River and we turned onto the North Fork. After motoring through the 11th Avenue Bridge which also opened soon after we requested, we gently continued to the turn onto the canal leading our slip We wore our Ear Tec headsets and made a perfect come alongside maneuver with the boat stopped just an inch off of the dock. Perfect - Peggy scored an 11.

So that was our trip, we didn't take many photos or videos and had nothing untoward happen, it was a pretty relaxing weekend and to be honest - a day on the water is better than - well pretty much everything.

See you on the water.

 

Sailing Eximius to Miami

Sailing Eximius to Miami for Memorial Day Weekend

With the engine fixed, our sea trial was set for the trip down to Miami Florida over Memorial day weekend with the Hillsboro Inlet Sailing Club ( HISC ).

Our plan was to load the boat on Wednesday May 22nd. Then depart Thursday morning.

I prepared a quick and dirty Float Plan and sent it to our closest friends.

Thursday May 23rd 2024:

Eximius will be leaving the Dock in Fort Lauderdale approximately 08:45 Thursday May 23rd 2024

Crew - Paul & Peggy Alcock

Destination: Miami Stadium Marina https://maps.app.goo.gl/pWRrWJkJX7MDwk676

Route: North Fork of the New River - Port Everglades - South on the Atlantic Ocean - Government Cut of the Miami Inlet - ICW to Rickenbacker Causeway bridge - Miami Stadium Marina.

ETA by 16:00

Friday May 24th 2024 - Saturday May 25th 2024

Remain at Anchor at Miami Stadium Marina

Sunday May 26th.

Possible Day sail in North Biscayne Bay - returning to Miami Stadium Marina Sunday evening by 1800

Monday May 27th

Depart Miami Stadium Marina approximately 07:00

Destination - Eximius Dock in Fort Lauderdale

Route: Depart via Government Cut for Port Everglades via the Atlantic Ocean ( 2 miles out to catch the gulf steam ) to Port Everglades - New River - North Fork to dock.

ETA by 16:00

Attached is our Boat, Crew and Contact information from our Log Book.

The attachment was simply the front page of our boat's navigation log.

With the plan set, we reprovisioned the boat. I used the Cruising Planner Spreadsheet Cruising Planner Spreadsheet 

On Tuesday we went to the boat and finished cleaning up the cabin after the engine work. Turned the Fridges on and headed home. 

Wednesday we loaded the boat with both the Non-Perishables, Perishables and Drinks.

Thursday morning we left the dock as planned, running a little late, but not a big issue.

Once out of Port Everglades, we turned south and actually had the sails up! Sailing Eximius !!

With the wind on the beam but only around 7 knots and 1 know of current on our nose, we were not making a lot of progress. The forecast had promised a wind increase later in the afternoon so we started to motor sail on just the Genoa. 

As expected, the wind did start to pick up but we were much closer to Miami and the Government Cut, so we just continued to motor sail, we did have a max speed of 8.25knots which is really not shabby.

As we approached the entrance to Government Cut Miami, we furled the Genoa and motored in on the turbulent waters until we got inside of the jetty when the waters really quieted down.

Now the long motor up the Government cut and then turn to port into Fisherman's Cut, past the car ferries and down the long dock where ships get loaded by those huge gantry cranes.  We slowed down to allow a huge lux yacht to pass us and the continued on till we got to the ICW just about opposite the Miami River.

Turning South to follow the ICW down to Rickenbacker Causeway bridge via the often very narrow channel bounded by really skinny waters. Once close to the bridge fenders, we turned and followed our previous track towards the Miami Stadium Marina.

We anchored just East of the Rusty Pelican and South of Luijo's Island in about 9' of water pretty much at low tide - good, we need 5'7" so we're good.

There were a few people on Luijo's island despite the notices indicating that the Island was closed.  We watched NBC 6 News on our Tablet and saw a segment reporting that Miami had shut down all of the spoil Islands due to the amount of trash that visitors were leaving on the islands.  

During the evening, a lot of charter boats anchored pretty close to us. They seemed to have a competition as to which boat had the loudest and most obnoxious 'Music'. I used the term 'Music' loosly as it did not match any of my preconceived concept of 'Music'  It was awful.  They played until 4am Friday Morning! 

Despite not sleeping well, we were up for breakfast at 7am. I cooked Fried Eggs, Ham and Tomatoes as well as Skillet toast. Of course, a big pot of coffee and Brie Cheese for the toast.

Friday was pretty much a repeat of the night before. I did raise the dinghy off of the foredeck and lower it to the water, then I installed our new Solar Shades hoping they would help cool the boat.

They were a total success. The temperature of the deck under the shades was at least 10ºF below that out side of the shades. I think it's a combination of the deck being shaded and the flow of wind under the shades when we swung into wind on our anchor.

The cabin was quire bearable when it was scorching hot outside in the Sun. We ran the AC, powered by the Generator and the cabin was a balmy 83ºF.

So I'll markup the Solar Shade as a Ten! The shade is a prototype made from inexpensive shade fabric. Version 2 will be made from Phifertex and it will be White, not 'Tarp Blue', I'll post a separate post on the Solar Shades.

During the day, three more boats from the HISC arrived. Alebrije 2 with Hector & Lucy, then Chasing Blue with Chip & Mariel and a couple of guests, and finally, Anam Cara with Halit & Arzu. 

Alebrije 2 dropped anchor just to the NW of the Stadium ( The Dotted Red Arrow ) 

Hector stopped by in his Puggy Dingy and advised that the noise was much less where he was anchored on Alebrije 2. We thought about it and decided to stay put, thinking that the noise would most likely expand as more charter boats moved into the area.  -- NOT --

We had prepared meals for on the boat with plenty to spare in case we had any guests come over. But for them it was a choice of come over to Eximius or go to one of the huge Catamarans - Hmmmm. 

Saturday morning we gave up, it was 4:30am when the last charter boat decided to leave the anchorage so we planned to shift our anchor to be closer to the Cats and Anam Cara.

The cruise plan was to have a picnic on the Luij's Island at lunchtime Saturday. Well the locals spoilt that option. The Island is tiny, could probably walk around it a low tide in about 10 minutes. It does have a nice beach area which would have been great for a picnic and the club is very good at doing picnics.  However, the City of Miami closed all of the spoil Islands in Biscayne bay ( including Luij's Island ) due to the amount of Litter that the locals were leaving on the islands. Apparently it's not a small problem. The news of the closure was announced on all of the local TV stations and there were Police boats in the area ensuring that the closure was being observed.  So - NO PICNIC.

Don't get me wrong. We really enjoyed getting the boat out and it was a very successful Sea Trial of Eximius after the past month of working on the engine etc. etc. We're already planning our next trip down to Biscayne Bay - it just won't involve a weekend night at Miami Stadium Marina.

We got a ride with Hector to the rafted Catamarans and had an awesome Luncheon with all of the others that arrived by car, they parked by the Stadium and were shuttled from the beach ( rocks ) to the Cats.  The HISC always have great 'Bring Something To Share' events. As always, there was more food than we could eat, not sure if anyone took pics of the lunch dishes but they were delicious. Sea Stories spread like flies although there were no bugs on the food!

After lunch, Chip ( Chasing Blue ) gave us a ride back to Eximius which was much closer now. and we took a well earned Nap hoping to catch up on the lack of sleep on Thursday & Friday.   --- Didn't happen! The Charter boats were back and they seemed to follow us to our new location, at least were not alone.

Sunday morning, Peggy & I rowed our dink over to the Cats and we shared breakfast - another BSTS event. Astrid drove down with a couple more guests and brought a gallon of DD Coffee. there were Bagels & Lox, Fruits, English Muffins, cream Cheese and lots of Coffee. Chip and Mariel did a great job of hosting the Breakfast.

The plan was for the Cats to go for a Day Sail after breakfast, however, the plan changed so that Alebrije 2 would remain on the anchor and Chasing Blue would host everyone for a day sail out to the Ocean in order to watch the Miami Air & Sea Show anchored outside of the restricted area. 

While they all headed out on Chasing Blue, we dinked back to our boat and setup the Air Conditioning and hid out of the Sun. We had put up our Deck Sun Shade on day one of the cruise but dropped it during the move further into the Marina area.  That Shade makes a huge difference! My plan is to make a final version soon so that our shade doesn't make the boat look like it's under a Tarp! 

Chasing Blue returned to the anchorage later, after we had hoisted our Dink onto the foredeck of Eximius. Chip managed to get some of this crew over to Alebrije without incident and we settled in for the evening with an early start planned for Monday morning.

When it cooled down, after dinner, I prepared the boat for an early dawn departure, set the alarm for 04:30am and we let the Generator run out of gasoline and left it off overnight. Other than the noisy neighbors partying long into the night, we slept well only getting awoken a couple of times by things bumping into the boat, probably coconut shells.

We made Coffee before 5am and I pulled the Anchor Snubber up as well as stowed the Anchor location ball. Peggy got up to the helm and started the Engine, we had our headsets on and so didn't have to talk too loudly as we passed the other boats still at anchor. The last Party Boat passed us just as were pulling the anchor.

Making our way out of the marina, we pretty well followed our track from Thursday. A non-event exit until we got to the ICW passage where it goes under the Rickenbacker bridge if we were going South, but were actually headed NW and that's where I lost the mark in the water and we motored too far to the West, towards shallow ground immediately West of the channel. Luckily, I realized it early enough that we did not go aground, but if you follow our track you'll see we moved too far west betwen 05:50am and 05:52am. Not an issue and the tide was coming in.

Navigating up the ICW from the bridge was pretty easy as long as we kept an eye out for the markers. Soon we were headed outbound in Fishermans Cut, past the early morning car ferrys and the huge freighter being guided inbound by Tugs. By the time we turned out of the Government Cut into the Ocean, it was full daylight and we could see that the sea state looked good, although there was not much wind.

Turning to the NW to head towards the Gulf Stream, we searched for wind, found none. We did hoist the sails for a while and managed 6knots for a while. By 08:30 the wind was dropping till eventually we Stowed the sails and went to motor. We called Alebrije and they were closer to Government Cut and still had wind but we could not see them.

We continued a leisurely motor all the way up to Port Everglades, turned into the port and began the final leg of the journey home.

By the time were got to the dock and unloaded, we were both done for the day.  Home, Shower, Change, Dinner and good night.  It's nearly always that way after a cruise. The good news that unloading the truck only takes about 20mins and that includes restocking cold food into the Fridge, other food into the Pantry, Laundry out of the bags and clean clothing back in our closets / bedroom.

A great weekend despite the noisy neighbors in Miami. Looking forward to going back down to Biscayne Bay, but certainly not into Miami Stadium Marina.

We really need to take more pictures and videos, but that's Peggy's Job. ( I'm sticking with that excuse ) 

See you on the water.

M25XP Damper Plate replacement Pt.11 ( Final part )

Finished the Damper Plate Replacement Project.

Ok, all done. The last few steps were easy.

Step 1 - Replace the Gearbox Oil

Step 2 - Check the engine at the dock.

Gearbox Oil Change.

Anyone that has had to change the gearbox oil on a C34 knows - Jack had be nimble - practice boat yoga often and you might be ready.

The good news is there is an easy way to change the gearbox oil.

Remove the Gearbox Oil Dipstick - this is located on the Port side of the gearbox near the forward edge. It's also beneath the Heat Exchanger so just unscrew the dipstick until it is free to lift up, then work it upwards between the heat exchanger and the engine. The dipstick is about 6" long. Pull it out and check the oil level. There's a single groove about 1/4" from the lower end of the dipstick that indicates the normal oil level. Wipe the dipstick down and reinsert it just till the threaded portion touches the body of the gearbox. Remove the dipstick again and note the oil level.

With the dipstick removed, move to the front of the engine and run a 'Fill Tube'  about 1/2" OD, down from the top of the engine just forward of the heat exchanger. The gearbox oil filler hole is just visible. Insert the tube as far down as it will go.

Make sure your oil suction pump is empty! You'll be measuring the amount of oil removed from the gearbox in order to determine how much fresh oil to put back into the gearbox.

Now insert the oil change pump suction tube into the Fill tube, again, as far down as it will reach.

With the suction tube in place, use your oil pump to suck out as much oil as you can.

Pour the removed oil into a measuring cup ( or a Paper cup will do ) and measure the amount of oil removed. If using a paper cup, then simply have a second cup of the same size and mark it where the fresh oil level needs to be to match that amount that was removed.

Remove the Oil suction hose from the  Fill tube and insert a small funnel into the top end of the Fill tube which should still be inserted into the fill hole of the gearbox.

Now pour the measured amount of fresh gearbox oil into the small funnel and let it drain down.

Remove the fill tube and reinsert the dipstick to check the oil level is correct. If needed, reinsert the fill tube and add a small amount of gearbox oil and then check the level again. Remember, use the lower en of the dipstick without screwing it into the gearbox.

Once the level is correct then replace the dipstick.

Check it again after running the engine for a while.

Phew!

Ok, Next Check the coolant level.

As a lot of the coolant was drained out when I removed the engine and heat exchanger, there's quite lot of coolant to replace.

I removed the coolant filler cap and poured in coolant until it reached the rim just below the overflow outlet. 

Next we ran the engine quite hard! I pushed it up to 2800rpm and let it run until I saw the coolant temperature rise above 150 and shut the engine down before it got to 200ºF.

Giving the engine a few minutes rest and with a large rag covering the coolant fill cap, I released the cap. As I had not let the engine get too hot there was not a lot of pressure on the cap.

The coolant level was down, a good sign, as this meant that some of the air in the system was getting purged into the coolant tank. Again, top up the coolant to the rim and replace the cap. Run the engine again. Same process, push the engine until the temp starts to rise and shut it down before reaching 200ºF. Check the coolant level again as earlier and repeat.

I did this 4 times and the last time as soon as I started the engine, the temp was over 150ºF but it started to drop down within a minute. The temp stayed at the 150ºF mark and I allowed the engine to run for another 10 minutes. During that time I tested the gear shift, it easily shifted into Forwards, Neutral Reverse, Neutral several times and we tried to move the dock. The boat put a strain ou our dock lines and the engine temp stayed around 150ºF which has been our normal engine temp for the past 9 years.

Again: Phew!

I called Greg the Mechanic and gave him the good news. The engine ran a whole lot smoother than before, no more cackaling from the damper plate. All looked good

I checked the engine oil level again, we're still good. I'll check the gearbox oil when we get back from out trip.

So, it took 3 weeks but worked out great and really was not that expensive.

Now I can really say "See you on the water" in earnest.

See you on the water!