Renaming Ceremony - Video by Matt Dreiss

Matt Dreiss took tons of Video over the weekend. He was kind enough to create this YouTube video for us. Great Job Thanks Matt

Renaming Ceremony

Renaming Ceremony June 20th - 2015 @ 16:00hrs.

At the Bahia Mar Resort & Marina 

Fort Lauderdale Florida

Ahoy, Ahoy, Ahoy!

Gather round, Gather around: It's time to give graciously to the Gods to ensure this vessel plys the seas, safely on the top.

Following tradition, and being unable to find a virgin to wash the boat, we will break a special, highly valued bottle of bubbly on this fair hull.

But first, we must give homage to the Gods.

Let's make noise as we recognize these gracious Gods so that they know we are thinking of them

1st to  Poseidon - (Neptune)  - and his queen Amphitrite -(Make some noise!)

2nd (Make some noise!) to the Wind Gods:

• Boreas the North-Wind,

• Zephryos the West-Wind,

• Notos the South-Wind,

• and to Euros the East-Wind

And lastly, but not least, to Phartos God of the Wind from behind.

Raise your Glasses and give cheer To the Gods!

And now while you refill your glasses, to show the Gods that we have gone to no end of effort to appease them, I need you to give cheer, loudly and vociferously in recognition of our efforts:

Were you Welcomed to our Vessel with a drink or two? Louder!

Were you impressed by the amount of Silicone Caulk that was spread around the boat to keep her dry in all conditions before, during and after your visit?

Did we offer food enough to fill?

Did we dress this vessel so that it would be easy to find and bring some cheer to these weary docks?

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

We were asked many times about the Name of this sailing vessel, and how it was determined and how it was spelled, so let me tell you all at one time.

The previous owner, who shall remain anonymous, had done many things to this boat in order to give it's old soul longevity and encourage it's survival during many trips out on the ocean. After we visited the boat with the mind to purchase her, I commented to my fair wife that the boat is 'SPECIAL' and suggested that if we purchased this boat, then we should call her 'SPECIAL' However, Special is sometimes used as a platitude, like Isn't he Special! and Peggy exclaimed that she would not sail on a boat that had the name 'SPECIAL'.

Later that day, after we two agreed to try and purchase the boat, Peggy suggested we translate the name into Latin. We asked the God of the Internet (Google) how Special would translate in Latin. And thus the name was cast Eximius.

And now we call on the keeper of the Bubbly - our Commodore Suzi. Bring the bottle of very expensive bubbly to the bow and wash the bow to wipe away the old name.

Now head down to the stern and pour to wash away the old name from Stem to Stern. 

And thus we celebrate the new name for this fine vessel: 

EXIMIUS!

Let the Gods be praised and know that Eximius will travel on the seas with their consent.

Now let's raise our glasses (fill them if you need) and let the world know of this vessel's new name.

EXIMIUS

And in response to every bridge tender on the ICW,

that's spelled:

Echo, Xray, India, Mike, India, Uniform, Sierra

Eximius

Uncover the Transom

Cheers! to all, and we look forward to meeting with you on seas both near and far.

Welcoming the Gods aboard

 The Goddess ensuring all are paying homage

 Commodore 'Suzi' washing away the old name with Champagne

From Stem to Stern 

Unveiling the new name 'Eximius' 

Tina announcing to the Gods with her Conch Horn 

Very special thanks to  Pam & David (The Gods) 

Exhausting day

Peggy & I went to the boat today with a list of jobs to get done.

By 6pm we were exhausted and ready to quit for the day.

Accomplished:
12 Volt Fans installed at the Galley & the Head, that makes life a lot more tolerable.

Cabin cleaning: Peggy cleaned the cabin cushions and the wood work on the Stbd side Cabin cupboards. This was a big thing to get done. We purchased a Bisell Green Machine and it does a great job. The water extracted from the cushion wash was pretty awful. But all of the cabin cushions are done.

I worked on the Solenoid for the gas system. Tested the wiring, that works fine. Connected the new solenoid to the electric control and that works too. But the job needs some plumbers Teflon tape to make the gas connections leak proof. It's on my list.

Then I got the transom cleaned up. Used 1200 grit wet-n-dry to remove the residue of the old names. Then washed the transom down with Polyglow prep. By the time I finished, it felt good and was ready for the new name. I had studied an online video of the process to put the vinyl lettering on the fiberglass. Worked a treat, I'll take pics tomorrow.

At that point we were pretty beat. The sun was brutal today, and working on the transom was almost painful.  Fortunately, when it came time to put the new name in place, a short period of cloud saved me.

Peggy did a great job on the head. Oxyclean does a wonderful job. The head now looks really good. And with the new fan installed, it smells sweet, in a good way.

After deciding which things to leave on board and which to take home, that included the Head Shower Curtain - Peggy is going to try and revive it. So we closed up the boat.

Peggy helped raise the dink back onto the foredeck, and then worked on cleaning the cockpit area. I covered the dink from the brutal Florida Sun, and cleaned out the toerail scuppers.

After a final cockpit washdown, we loaded up the truck and headed home.


Sunday I'll head back to the boat to Polyglow the transom.

We left the house this morning at 9:30am, spent 15 minutes diversion taking trash stuff to the bulk drop off before heading down to the boat. We arrived around 10:30, took a 30 minute Burger King Chicken Sandwich lunch and finished around 6pm. But what we did get done we did well!

Closing stress

When we initially figured out the financing for the purchase of Eximius, we considered pulling money from savings or taking a loan.  The loan process was our most comfortable choice and we selected Essex Credit for the financing process. Mortgage companies require secure collateral so they want title to the boat. That means the boat has to be USCG documented. Turns out that process can take up to 12 months to complete. I'm not sure the seller would wait that long for closing.

After digging deep, I found that Essex could process the loan despite the delay in the documentation process.  Phew!

Today we finally got the good to go response from Essex. I expect Deke will get his final payment by Thursday this week.

The stress has been on both ends of the rope. Deke has been concerned about his liability and I have concerns about spending money on a boat that is not yet ours. Deke has shown his commitment by allowing us to bring the boat to Fort Lauderdale and he knows that we have shown our commitment by putting so much skin in the game.

After FedExing the final, correct docs to Essex Credit after work today, I'm pretty sure closing will occur tomorrow,  Wednesday.  Then we can start planning in a less stressful environment. I'm ready to celebrate closing. I'll feel much better knowing that Deke has been paid.

So today,  Wednesday, will be a great day!

Survey items rectification

The survey valued the boat slightly higher than the selling price - good, but, and we expected to learn this, there were a few things that needed fixing that were pretty important.

Top of one list is the Propane system solenoid. It had been disconnected and Deke had advised me on day one about that. When we were at anchor in Lake Boca, I took a brief swim to view the boat from the waterline, every boat owner does that! Boat looked good especially after we had the hull repainted below the water line and cleaned and polished above. But when I tried to get out of the water using the swim ladder attached to the transom, wow! the bottom rung of the ladder was perhaps 6" below the water line! I could get up, but no way would Peggy manage that maneuver. Se we need a Swim Ladder Extension. On Saturday I was doing some work in the cabin at the dock. Working on the head was a hot and sweaty job, smelly too, but I had a fan setup to vent the area I was working. We both agreed that fans are really important. So we need Fans for the V-Berth, Main Cabin, the Head, and the Aft Berth, seven in total.

So, after doing the usual research on the web, I ordered 7 Fans, 1 Propane Solenoid and a Swim Ladder Extension all from Defender. They could arrive before next weekend which means I can install them next Saturday, June 13th which is great as we plan on taking the boat to Pier 66 for the weekend for a Party with the HISC. And that means we would be ready to have the renaming party!!!

Monday June 8th is the scheduled closing day and that would make both the P.O. Deke and myself a lot better.

Now to keep an eye out for the UPS delivery.

Saturday work on the boat

Took the day off work around the house to get some stuff done on Eximius.

Our daughter brought KT over this morning as Pam had to take her car in for service. I picked Pam up at the VW store in Coconut Creek and brought her home with out cutie granddaughter KT, then it was off to the boat with the truck loaded for the jobs today.

1st on the list was the install of the CO detector, a Survey Safety finding. That took all of 5 minutes. Then onto the Propane Solenoid, that took a bit of work, but once I figured out how to get the bits apart, I was able to extract the disconnected solenoid. Now I can order a replacement.

Next was to look at the swim ladder to see how I can add an extension that will reach well below the water line, so I took measurements.

On to doing an oil change, and just as I was preparing for that project, Deke (the P.O.) called and during the conversation explained it was best done using an oil pump via the dip stick tube. So that job was put off till next weekend.

Then onto the biggey! Fix the head. it would flush (empty) smelly stuff, but would not refill. The risk is that some flotsam would lay in the tube between the holding tank and the head pump, not good and likely to lead to smelly hoses. Deke had a couple of head repair kits on board, but had also said that the cost of a new head was not much more than the repair kits so it might be easier to get a new head than try to repair the old one.

With the kits onboard, I thought I would try it. Between the two kits onboard, I was able to get the head fully functional. The pump valves in the two kits differed. One had exposed metal disks on both valves, the other had one valve rubberized. Turns out the rubberized one was the correct one. Now the head is flushing easily. Did a lot of cleanup after that one.

On our delivery trip from Stuart, one annoyance was that the head door kept opening and banging around. I figured it was just the spring in the door latch was old. It was, and a clean up of the inside of the latch and slight extension of the spring and now the door closes and stays closed. While at it, I copied the process on the aft berth door.

The bilge needed cleaning, and I used a few of KT's unused too small to use diapers to soak up the small amount of oil that was in the bilge.

Then it was time to get the Clorox wipes out and start wiping down all of the nooks and crannies. And I took down the linen curtains that were probably original, bringing them home to see if they can be salvaged. If not, we'll either leave them down as most of the cabin ports have blue covers or we'll make new ones using the original securing tabs.

A quick removal of all the garbage generated during the work today, inspect the cockpit lockers and the boat dock lines, time to head home. Spent 6 hours on the boat today, but getting a better grasp of everything on the boat and what need to be done before we head out on our first cruise.

Need to order some stuff tomorrow.

Our first Day Sail

We took her out for a day sail yesterday. It was our first trip out of Port Everglades (I have traversed the port a few times on other boats, including a big aircraft carrier :)

We first had to swing the boat around at the dock. She was facing west and we didn't like the idea of trying to back all the way down the canal which has boats on both sides and a tree that need trimming!

It took about an hour to get from the slip to outside the port, there are 6 bridges to negotiate, but one is tall enough that we can sail under it during all by very high tides.

The rest open on request and are really very good at opening within a couple of minutes of a request.

Once outside, we hoisted the sails and headed NNE on a beam reach to get used to handling the sails.

 Peggy at the helm did really well. Then we tacked to SSE and headed for the 3 mile limit. I must remember not to go swimming near the 3 mile limit 

The macerator worked great.

Then we eased off and headed back to the port entrance, we turned up just outside the first marker and lowered the sails. I wrapped up the mainsail while Peggy turned us back towards Port Everglades. Traffic was not too busy, but it gets choppy just near the mouth of the Port.

Once inside we turned north to head under the 17st Causeway Bridge (56' clearance at that time) then we left Party city to Stbd and took the turn west into the New River.

Now on our 3rd traverse off the river, we're getting a little more relaxed, hopefully we will learn to chill with more experience. The 7th avenue bridge responded to our call to open with a 'Sorry guys, got a mechanic working on the bridge right now, it'll be a few minutes' So we did a few dosie does for about 10 minutes, the current was quite strong inbound. Once they fixed the bridge, we had to remain on station while a mega yacht was towed out. The bridge tender kept it open for us, so on our last turn we headed up and through without incident.

The bridge tenders seem to do a really good job of minimizing the delay while the bridge is opened.

We approached the dock at very slow speed and I was able to hook the line we left trailing between the dock posts and pull us close to the dock so that I could step off. The wind was from the east and I used it to help swing the boat around with the bow now pointing east for our next trip.

The slip landlord was gracious to help tie the boat up and our first day sail was over. A great day.