Meandering Magees: Back on True North!

Sunday, November 5, 2017
Day 216 (Loop days)

"On the boat again
I just can't wait to get on the boat again . . ."

Ok, so I borrowed a lyric from Willie Nelson and tweaked it a little, but we are on True North again and excited to be resuming our Loop.

A lot of hard work went into getting her ready to launch back into the Florida waters. Hurricane Irma did no damage other than leaving the boat very dirty, both inside and out. About a month ago, the outside dirt was tackled by Mike, Greg, and two of our sons - Michael and Matt, who spent a week washing, waxing, and painting the exterior. It was brutal work, with the temps in the high 90's. The pictures below show what a good job they did.

With the boat scheduled to go into the water on November 1, we loaded up a U-Haul trailer and left chilly Michigan the end of October. We thought our launch time was 1 pm, so we were pleasantly surprised when we got to the boat yard and they said we were going in at 11. Little did we know we would need those extra 2 hours. Once in the water, we tied up to the yard's seawall but the contents of the rented trailer could not be brought onboard until the inside dirt was taken care of. Every surface had to be cleaned - ceilings, walls, floors, cupboards, drawers, furniture, and the bathrooms. So True North got a spring cleaning in the fall. Mike and I and Greg and Karen worked for 12 hours just to get to the point that we could put sheets on the beds and use the bathrooms. The next day we had hoped to leave for Clearwater, but another long day of cleaning and fixing some issues that arose kept us at Safe Cove a second night. A very simple thing had us stumped for almost 2 hours. The dinghy rides on the swim platform, on some rocker arms, and then we secure it to the platform with straps that ratchet tight. No matter how tight we made the straps, the dinghy was way too wobbly. We felt that our exhaustion and the hot sun were conspiring to fry our brains as we could not figure out how to have the dinghy sit correctly and be secure. Last year we did this in our sleep! We took a break and Mike searched my phone for any pictures of the boat and the dinghy. He finally realized that 2 small, but obviously very important bolts got left back in Ludington. The MacGyver in Greg came up with wedging one of our round bumpers under the dinghy so it wouldn't rock when traveling. (I think we need to finish the Loop before our brains go really dead and we can't remember if we are headed north or south!) Our freezer in the kitchen is also not working, but in the "you have to be thankful for the little things" category, we have a chest freezer in the back cockpit area and that is working.

When the U-Haul was finally empty (the dinghy was the last thing out) it marked the 5th time that Mike and I have transferred our personal belongings from one place to another since moving aboard True North in July of 2016.

Under a beautiful sunny sky, the boat left its summer home in Port Charlotte at 8:45 am on Friday, November 3. Destination - Clearwater Beach Marina, where we had a reservation for the month of November. Mike, Greg and Karen were on the boat and I drove the chase car - a.k.a our Jeep. Karen developed a really bad cold so staying onboard (where there is a bed!) was better for her than fighting traffic on I-75. First stop was a fuel dock in Punta Gorda. It took almost 2 hours to get out of the river where Safe Cove is located, and then another 45 minutes across Charlotte Harbor to Punta Gorda. With full tanks, the boat left Punta Gorda at 12:30. The trip to Clearwater took over 6 hours. A strong north wind produced a chop on the water so the ride was a little bumpy.

Friday was Matt's birthday and we had arranged to take him and several of his friends out to dinner to celebrate. The marina is across the street from the beautiful Clearwater beach and in the midst of a lively restaurant/shopping district. Matt was with me to catch lines when True North docked, much later than we had originally planned. Getting settled in the slip (adjusting lines and hooking up power and water) takes a little time, and we all had to shower yet. Matt's friends took a quick tour of the boat, then went up to the flybridge with some appetizers and drinks to wait while we got ready. All was going well until the inside lights started dimming and then went completely out. Our power gauge indicators were reading really low voltage, which was odd because when we plugged in, the voltage was fine. This started a process of troubleshooting. When it got to be after 9pm, with no solution in sight, Mike and Greg stayed on the boat to keep working on the problem while the rest of us went to dinner. (Karen also stayed behind as she was a real trooper being sociable with our guests but really needed to go to bed!) Our sister-in-law Julie and nephew Thomas also joined us and we had a really nice celebratory dinner for Matt at Crabby's, just steps from the marina.

No luck on the power issue so we spent Friday night not being able to run any of the air conditioners or have lights on with the hot water heater on. Early Saturday morning I went to check in at the marina office (they were closed when the boat arrived) and I just happened to mention that we were having an electrical issue. The worker said "You will not get any more than 208 volts, and even that is optimistic". I knew that didn't sound right and went back to tell Mike. That was the "aha" moment, as he realized the power issue was not something that was wrong with the boat. She needs 240 volts, ideally, and can get by at 220 if need be, but anything below that just won't cut it. The worker said the Clearwater City Marina has better power. I inquired if we could get in over there, could we get a refund on our dockage. I had just paid for the entire month. "I can do that if you leave by 11". Calls were made and off we went for the 10 minute ride to the city marina. We have great power here and floating docks, which the beach marina didn't have. My short legs have a really difficult time getting on and off the boat at low tide with fixed docks!

I know you are going to find this hard to believe, but True North has been back in the water 5 days and Mike has washed the outside of her twice already.

I'm dealing with an attack of biting no see-ums. At least that is what I think they were as it hard to tell when you can't see um!

This marina has a maximum 15 day stay policy, so we will be here until Nov. 19. We will need to find dockage somewhere else in the area for another week as we are spending Thanksgiving with Jeff and Julie at their home in Tarpon Springs.

Our Great Loop Adventure continues . . .

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