Good Morning
First sunrise in MD!
Ernie! Thanks for the bottle of Captain Morgan!
We finished it off last night in celebration of being home!
Text from Ed: You guys win! We're in Dunn, NC with another
tire problem. The tread left us.
Bob talked to Ed this morning and he said he was probably going to stop in Richmond, VA
later today and meet up with Brian for a bit. I guess that makes us the winners! We are not there yet
but a bit closer than them! Ed....I sure am glad I didn't win 2nd prize....going to Aruba wouldn't be
as much fun as spending my time with my grandbabies! See you soon! Safe travels to both you and Brian!
Finals on the race!
Ed tells us he is meeting Brian in Richmond....NOT....in fact without our knowing he almost beat us home....he was only about an hour behind us! Now that was close!
Finals on the race!
Ed tells us he is meeting Brian in Richmond....NOT....in fact without our knowing he almost beat us home....he was only about an hour behind us! Now that was close!
Bob's final email:
To all friends and contestants,
Lynn and I sailed into our slip at 1516 hours yesterday. We were at the south section of the Interstate 695 latitude point at approximately 1314 hours. It was a long and arduous journey. It appears the the Kooper Klan may have arrived at the contest ending point just a mere 60 minutes or so behind us. We must now get Brian to ease into 3rd place. His has been the longest journey of all and with great respect Lynn and I would like to give him the first place prize of the Lincoln Town Car. We are certain that after 108,000 miles or so, he will welcome the plush seats, that won't creep up his behind, remote control everything, and, of course, the air conditioning. We're not sure if he remembers how to drive but we're certain it won't take him long to get his first ticket.
Aloha to all! Keep us posted Brian!
Brian's email:
3rd place is still a podium finish!! I'll be in Alexandria today and for the next few nights. I can't remember what the finish line is but I think I'll miss it for a few more days.
This barge is bringing up sand to be relocated at another location
This barge is bringing up sand to be relocated at another location
so he can give him a new container to fill and take the full one
to the other designation,
Scenic pictures on our way home
Deckelman's !!
Yay! We are home!
Tracy (she is 1/2 owner of the Riverwatch with her brother, Mark)
with Scott. Every year Scott, Ted and Laura have met us coming back in!
This past year when we left Scott helped us out along with Brett (no picture)
but Brett is out with all the other 1,000's of fisherman for opening
rock fish day!
Me, Jim, Bonita, Gus and Shelley
What has got our attention!
It was great getting home! Most of our friends were at a Bull & Oyster Roast
so Bob and I almost got a nap in.....that was until we told them what we were doing....
NOT!....they must have texted 100 times! So we didn't get our nap but we did get
some good rest before the party started!
seen me since January....
me being near him....no touching though!
He's a big boy now! Look at him stand!
I still can't touch him....
played with it for a while!
The Kraft Family!
The boys were finally coming over to me towards the end
and were touching my leg, but I still wasn't able to pick them up....
I did before I left though, not sure they were real keen on it
but they did allow it for about 15 seconds...I think Cameron
even gave me a hug! I'm so glad I'm home and can spend
lot's of time with them for a while!
From there we went to Len's (Bob's stepdad)
What a day we had today! We were up at 0330 this morning and left around 5 (I think)! We knew that this morning was opening day for rock fishing. Yikes.....there were thousands of boats everywhere, trolling at 3 knots with some sort of flutter thingy on the back of them, sometimes two. You talk about a lot of zig-zagging!
Then there was a sailboat race of some sort going on....along with several huge barges coming through....I sure was glad to get out of that mess....unfortunately then we had to maneuver around all the crab pots....shew what a day!
But now we are back with lot's of work to do on the boat before we leave again in the fall....wouldn't change it for the world though....love, love, love the blue waters!
OK, now for the fun part....STATS
(My Microsoft Word took a dump so we had to make it a PDF file and save it....this is as large a font as I could get....you may need to put on some glasses to read it or zoom in a bit! Enjoy!)
Crap That Broke
You do the preventive maintenance that you can; however, some items can just fail at any time. The following is a list of things that broke, didn't work properly, or intermittently failed. It is in pretty much the order that it occurred.
The Chartplotter went out in the first four hours of our journey. Bob conducted a "factory reset," and it worked for four months. Then it would shut off and turn on by itself continuously. This happened most of the trip even after additional factory resets. We were unable to use the waypoints as it would freeze up. We did use the waypoints for part of the way back up the Chesapeake Bay as if the chartplotter went completely out, we didn't really need it as much. Our backup chartplotter, inside at the navigation station, flickered a bit as well. We used that part of the way; however, it does not have as much information on the computer chip (depth, close-ups of shore, etc.) and it is inside. The backup chartplotter wouldn't receive the GPS signals for a while. This just so happened about the same time the helm chartplotter was on the blink. Just yesterday (April 15th) the backup chartplotter did not work at all. Today, it is working perfectly
The Autopilot would shut off by itself and turn the wheel hard one way or another. So we lost confidence in it and were unable to leave the helm if we were in a narrow channel or near a marker. One of the problems that we were able to fix was moving the dumbbell weights further from the internal compass. That seemed to work; however, it still continued to shut itself off from time to time.
We had ordered parts for our dinghy motor (Yamaha 2-stroke 15 hp) from Fawcett's in Annapolis three weeks before we left. The parts came in one day before we left so we didn't even open the package as Bob could not work on it until we left. When we opened they sent the incorrect part (steering handle) after providing them with a diagram of the part needed and the make/model/year of the motor. And they didn't order the other parts. After 76 emails!!!! we finally received the correct handle and returned the incorrect part. The other parts ordered were still not sent. Bob ordered the remaining parts (with 2 emails). Our friend Gary let us use his extra motor while ours was out of service. Due to all the hoopla, we did not complete the repairs, and return Gary's motor until we got to Daytona, FL.
The VCR/DVD player broke
The backup DVD player broke (we watched one movie the whole trip)
The anchor windless remote switch broke. It took Bob about 2 hours to fix it. Bad design. It was all corroded. He cleaned it up and siliconed the heck out of it.
Got a serious oil leak on the front of the engine. It wasn't until Bob had to replace the head gasket that he found the source. He was able to reduce, but not eliminate, the leak.
The outside grill propane bottle valve broke and we couldn't get any propane out of the bottle. We are able to use the boat's propane system but that's a real pain in the butt. It was so windy most of the trip that we just didn't cook on the grill that much.
The CD radio player lost one of its channels. Bob hooked the other speaker to the working channel so we only had mono and not stereo.
The Sirius radio antenna broke so we couldn't use it at all.
The starboard engine kept conking out. Bob found out the secondary fuel filter bleed bolt was stripped. We had to rent a car to get a replacement.
The starboard side valve cover leaked. The gasket was replaced.
The 2000 watt Honda generator kept cutting out at temperatures below 55 degrees. Bob would start it up to 9 times to warm up the engine oil enough so that it would run. We had a company in West Palm Beach pick it up and keep it for 4 days. It always started for them of course. It worked fine in the Bahamas and Florida, but it's doing the same thing now that it's cold.
While we were sitting outside drinking coffee the morning after we first got to Nassau, the bearings on the wind generator froze. That meant we were unable to generate any power from it. As much as the wind blew in the Bahamas it would have been most beneficial as it would have provided 12 volts, 24 hours a day. The solar panels (we have 2) just didn't provide as much power and because of the direction of the wind most of the time, the solar panels were blocked by the shadows of the mast and boom.
The house batteries slowly died in the Bahamas over a period of three months and by the time they totally failed they only provided 12 volts when the engine was running or the generator was on. Bob order 2 smaller, "car-sized" batteries, which were double the price as in the states. The batteries came be ship to one of the islands we were on from the Bahamas. The only good thing was that the shipping company only charged us $4.00 a piece for delivery. The downside is that they are small and so do not provide all of the amps necessary for use on the boat like the old ones did. Therefore, we have to run the generator much of the time. Ed Cooper helped Bob take them out of the engine room. Each of the old batteries weighs 165 pounds.
The wind speed indicator (anemometer) just stopped working for about 2 weeks. Then it just started working again.
Both the anchor chain and bridle (that holds the chain at the center of the boat at anchor) has reached the end of its useful life. Chain is not very exciting to purchase (like car tires) but it is imperative that you have total confidence in your ground tackle (which we do). It will cost about the same amount as 4 tires.
Lynn had made new curtains for the salon. It was a complicated pattern but matched it perfectly. And then 4 months later, they started to fade. A $24.00 per square yard fabric that is not suppose to fade.
We rode out another Derecho with winds up to 90 knots (we rode out a 90 knot Derecho with Bill, Mo, and Tim back in 2012). Actually nothing broke as we were ready for it; however, our friends Tim and Michele dragged anchor, a couple boats hit each other, one dinghy overturned, and one went missing.
We ran aground at one of the out islands of the Bahamas. We had an outgoing tide and the wind was pushing us against the shoal. Bob crabbed walked it off the sandy shoal; however, he said his pride was hurt and should not have attempted that route.
A pig poked a hole in our dinghy when he tried to board. It is only a small hole and just about sealed itself; however, we still need to make the repair.
The inverter would only provide 90 to 100 volts and the galley GFI kept tripping. Some things can run on lower voltages but most devices can't. Bob finally tracked it down to a loose wire in one of the 110 volts outlets.
The fresh water pump broke. We were without running water for 2 days until we could get to the West Marine so Bob could replace it. We had drinking water, just no shower for 2 days.
The starboard head gasket blew while we were in the Bahamas. We came across the Atlantic with one engine and sailed until the wind died. Kudos to Tom Akers, master diesel mechanic and our friends Ed and Mena Cooper who just happened to be volunteering in the state park only 1/2 mile from us in North Palm Beach anchorage. Between Tom guiding me through the replacement and Ed running me around town for parts, we pulled it off and have not had any problems.
So we pull into our slip today and plug into 110 volt shore power. We're looking forward to some nice heat and dry the boat out. The 12,000 BTU fails to start. So we're back to ceramic heaters until Bob and figure out what the heck is going on.
But we wouldn't trade our lifestyle for anything. We have all summer to make the repairs and we'll be ready to roll come October. Aloha!
What a day we had today! We were up at 0330 this morning and left around 5 (I think)! We knew that this morning was opening day for rock fishing. Yikes.....there were thousands of boats everywhere, trolling at 3 knots with some sort of flutter thingy on the back of them, sometimes two. You talk about a lot of zig-zagging!
Then there was a sailboat race of some sort going on....along with several huge barges coming through....I sure was glad to get out of that mess....unfortunately then we had to maneuver around all the crab pots....shew what a day!
But now we are back with lot's of work to do on the boat before we leave again in the fall....wouldn't change it for the world though....love, love, love the blue waters!
OK, now for the fun part....STATS
(My Microsoft Word took a dump so we had to make it a PDF file and save it....this is as large a font as I could get....you may need to put on some glasses to read it or zoom in a bit! Enjoy!)
You do the preventive maintenance that you can; however, some items can just fail at any time. The following is a list of things that broke, didn't work properly, or intermittently failed. It is in pretty much the order that it occurred.
The Chartplotter went out in the first four hours of our journey. Bob conducted a "factory reset," and it worked for four months. Then it would shut off and turn on by itself continuously. This happened most of the trip even after additional factory resets. We were unable to use the waypoints as it would freeze up. We did use the waypoints for part of the way back up the Chesapeake Bay as if the chartplotter went completely out, we didn't really need it as much. Our backup chartplotter, inside at the navigation station, flickered a bit as well. We used that part of the way; however, it does not have as much information on the computer chip (depth, close-ups of shore, etc.) and it is inside. The backup chartplotter wouldn't receive the GPS signals for a while. This just so happened about the same time the helm chartplotter was on the blink. Just yesterday (April 15th) the backup chartplotter did not work at all. Today, it is working perfectly
The Autopilot would shut off by itself and turn the wheel hard one way or another. So we lost confidence in it and were unable to leave the helm if we were in a narrow channel or near a marker. One of the problems that we were able to fix was moving the dumbbell weights further from the internal compass. That seemed to work; however, it still continued to shut itself off from time to time.
We had ordered parts for our dinghy motor (Yamaha 2-stroke 15 hp) from Fawcett's in Annapolis three weeks before we left. The parts came in one day before we left so we didn't even open the package as Bob could not work on it until we left. When we opened they sent the incorrect part (steering handle) after providing them with a diagram of the part needed and the make/model/year of the motor. And they didn't order the other parts. After 76 emails!!!! we finally received the correct handle and returned the incorrect part. The other parts ordered were still not sent. Bob ordered the remaining parts (with 2 emails). Our friend Gary let us use his extra motor while ours was out of service. Due to all the hoopla, we did not complete the repairs, and return Gary's motor until we got to Daytona, FL.
The VCR/DVD player broke
The backup DVD player broke (we watched one movie the whole trip)
The anchor windless remote switch broke. It took Bob about 2 hours to fix it. Bad design. It was all corroded. He cleaned it up and siliconed the heck out of it.
Got a serious oil leak on the front of the engine. It wasn't until Bob had to replace the head gasket that he found the source. He was able to reduce, but not eliminate, the leak.
The outside grill propane bottle valve broke and we couldn't get any propane out of the bottle. We are able to use the boat's propane system but that's a real pain in the butt. It was so windy most of the trip that we just didn't cook on the grill that much.
The CD radio player lost one of its channels. Bob hooked the other speaker to the working channel so we only had mono and not stereo.
The Sirius radio antenna broke so we couldn't use it at all.
The starboard engine kept conking out. Bob found out the secondary fuel filter bleed bolt was stripped. We had to rent a car to get a replacement.
The starboard side valve cover leaked. The gasket was replaced.
The 2000 watt Honda generator kept cutting out at temperatures below 55 degrees. Bob would start it up to 9 times to warm up the engine oil enough so that it would run. We had a company in West Palm Beach pick it up and keep it for 4 days. It always started for them of course. It worked fine in the Bahamas and Florida, but it's doing the same thing now that it's cold.
While we were sitting outside drinking coffee the morning after we first got to Nassau, the bearings on the wind generator froze. That meant we were unable to generate any power from it. As much as the wind blew in the Bahamas it would have been most beneficial as it would have provided 12 volts, 24 hours a day. The solar panels (we have 2) just didn't provide as much power and because of the direction of the wind most of the time, the solar panels were blocked by the shadows of the mast and boom.
The house batteries slowly died in the Bahamas over a period of three months and by the time they totally failed they only provided 12 volts when the engine was running or the generator was on. Bob order 2 smaller, "car-sized" batteries, which were double the price as in the states. The batteries came be ship to one of the islands we were on from the Bahamas. The only good thing was that the shipping company only charged us $4.00 a piece for delivery. The downside is that they are small and so do not provide all of the amps necessary for use on the boat like the old ones did. Therefore, we have to run the generator much of the time. Ed Cooper helped Bob take them out of the engine room. Each of the old batteries weighs 165 pounds.
The wind speed indicator (anemometer) just stopped working for about 2 weeks. Then it just started working again.
Both the anchor chain and bridle (that holds the chain at the center of the boat at anchor) has reached the end of its useful life. Chain is not very exciting to purchase (like car tires) but it is imperative that you have total confidence in your ground tackle (which we do). It will cost about the same amount as 4 tires.
Lynn had made new curtains for the salon. It was a complicated pattern but matched it perfectly. And then 4 months later, they started to fade. A $24.00 per square yard fabric that is not suppose to fade.
We rode out another Derecho with winds up to 90 knots (we rode out a 90 knot Derecho with Bill, Mo, and Tim back in 2012). Actually nothing broke as we were ready for it; however, our friends Tim and Michele dragged anchor, a couple boats hit each other, one dinghy overturned, and one went missing.
We ran aground at one of the out islands of the Bahamas. We had an outgoing tide and the wind was pushing us against the shoal. Bob crabbed walked it off the sandy shoal; however, he said his pride was hurt and should not have attempted that route.
A pig poked a hole in our dinghy when he tried to board. It is only a small hole and just about sealed itself; however, we still need to make the repair.
The inverter would only provide 90 to 100 volts and the galley GFI kept tripping. Some things can run on lower voltages but most devices can't. Bob finally tracked it down to a loose wire in one of the 110 volts outlets.
The fresh water pump broke. We were without running water for 2 days until we could get to the West Marine so Bob could replace it. We had drinking water, just no shower for 2 days.
The starboard head gasket blew while we were in the Bahamas. We came across the Atlantic with one engine and sailed until the wind died. Kudos to Tom Akers, master diesel mechanic and our friends Ed and Mena Cooper who just happened to be volunteering in the state park only 1/2 mile from us in North Palm Beach anchorage. Between Tom guiding me through the replacement and Ed running me around town for parts, we pulled it off and have not had any problems.
So we pull into our slip today and plug into 110 volt shore power. We're looking forward to some nice heat and dry the boat out. The 12,000 BTU fails to start. So we're back to ceramic heaters until Bob and figure out what the heck is going on.
But we wouldn't trade our lifestyle for anything. We have all summer to make the repairs and we'll be ready to roll come October. Aloha!
