I used a wonderful web-based app for weather routing to Roatan Honduras, www.fastseas.com and it worked very well for us. It estimated about 5 days enroute. We dropped the anchor in French Harbor 5 days and 1 hour after leaving the dock in St. Pete.

We watched stunning moonrises and sunsets, sunrises and moonsets. The moon was full for the first two nights!


Yvonne and I frantically getting our new cell SIM cards activated to keep our numbers alive.


Our course past Tampa Bay's North Channel



The helm of Abundance underway


Happy Wife, Happy Life!



Fish on!! Jim caught 4 fish. We ate a Mahi and it was delicious.

Back in June of 2017, we arranged for our friends Jim and Judy Jones to join us on the passage to Roatan. We told them it would be 5 days or more so they made plane reservations to arrive on November 30th so we could set off on December 2nd.



Our plans went well with the normal glitches but we were ready on the 2nd of December, a Saturday and we dropped the dock lines and headed south!

When we are going into and out of tight places like marinas, the wind can move the bow (front) of the boat in ways that are dangerous - and can result in collisions with other boats or docks.

A device known as a bow thruster can mitigate this problem by adding a motor and propeller in the front that can be operated by the helmsperson.

We had one installed in 2014, an external model, but it proved inadequate for our 52,000 pound boat with a high freeboard (wind side area).

So we decided to haul her out once again an install a proper internal thruster, this time a 10 horsepower Vetus model BOW16024D, that runs on 24 volts and has 350 pounds of thrust.



In the above photo, I have laid out some boundaries. The Vetus thruster requires only 1/2 of the tunnel diameter below the waterline. The upper tape defines the waterline and the next one down is the 1/2, or 5" line since the tunnel is 10" in diameter.

The lower rows of tape are the lowest the tunnels can be in the hull. I chose 5" as the minimum distance between the bottom of the tube and the bottom of the hull.

My goal was to keep the thruster as far forward as possible for two reasons. The first, the minimize the impact on cabinetry in the V berth and second, the provide a longer moment arm for the thruster to operate with and create more turning force.

Below the tape area is an area with the blue bottom paint removed. This is the area where the old external thruster was attached. I had to repair the old 2" hole and 2 bolt holes in the hull.



In the photo above, you can see I've decided on a center for the tunnel and inserted a 1/2" steel rod through a hole in each side. This is a guide rod for the router appliance that I used to cut the holes for the tunnel.

You can see the old external thruster laying on the ground near the yellow drill. Way too small for Abundance. It did work in very light wind, but it slowed the boat about 1/2 of a knot.



Here I am suited up for cutting the holes. Bill Drewes, a coworker at Farmer Mold and Machine Works, created and made the router appliance that keeps a constant radius on the cutting bit while the router is rotated around the guide rod.



After the holes were cut, I inserted the tube for a fit check. No more than a 1/8" gap occurred around the periphery of each hole. Well done, Bill! Thank you for making the great router appliance.



You can see the close fit in the inside where sunlight illuminated the tube.



This is a view of the glassed-in tube in the V berth. I used West Systems epoxy and bi-axial glass. Don't ever used chopped strand matte with epoxy. It won't dissolve the binder and the matte will not lay down. I applied 2 layers of matte then 4 layers of bi-axial with increasing length of strips.

This was after we packed thickened epoxy into the joints all around the tube.



I glassed the outside edge and faired it. I also added "eyebrows" ahead of the tube, with a 1" gradual rise to decrease the amount of water that crashed into the aft portion of the tube when underway. I also radiused the joint where the tube and hull meet.

Yvonne is applying the barrier coat, Interlux Interprotect 2000 before applying the anti-fouling layers.



This is what the motor looks like in the V berth.



This is the appearance after bottom paint was applied. I put the propeller on later. It tested okay the first time and has a lot of thrust!

This Little Bar
This is a photo from the docks at Maximo Marina in St. Petersburg, Florida which will be torn down in a month or so to make room for newer ones, a normal life cycle for marinas.

As I walked by this particular vacated slip, I noticed a bar and stools that someone had built between the two finger piers many years ago.

Knowing boaters as I do, I can imagine the total joy that the builders of this little gathering place must have experienced as they sat for drinks and snacks with friends who would have heaped compliments on the bar, its creators and its atmosphere.

For me, this little watering hole among the boats is symbolic of the camaraderie we enjoy in the boating community around the world. Instant friends are made, long-lasting relationships are forged and we support one another with our time, energy and sometimes, our money.

What would a video camera have captured at this bar during the decades it served as a haven from the world of work and the mundane? News of boating adventures, new equipment installed, fabulous places to go, and the standard bar talk we all love to engage in.

"Come on over for a drink!" Words we love to hear. "We have some snacks"

"What can we bring?"

"Some ice and whatever you drink".

There are times when all I can think about while working hard during my day is that cold beer or strong drink I'm going to have when I stop working for the day. You see, I never drink while working on my boat or working for someone else. I've always wanted to keep a distinct line between drinking and working, one is fun, the other is a necessary evil.

Meeting good friends at a little cozy place like this would have made the reward just that much better. Then, after a few rounds of drinks and several hours of enjoyable conversation, we endeavor to navigate home from the little bar, hopefully not driving a car or a boat. Nudge nudge, wink wink. Some things are valuable for their story-telling later on.

My hope is that before the first sledge hammer falls on this little sanctuary at Maximo and it is turned into scrap, someone will pause and give thanks for the great times we all have together at places like this in our short lives.
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Some History First

While on the hard in Oasis Boat Yard in St. Augustine, around January 20th of this year (2016) we received a demand letter from a law firm in Las Vegas, NV relating to my ex-wife and her claims to my Nevada State (PERS) retirement.


Abundance Anchored in New Smyrna near Daytona

Yvonne and I decided we needed to go to St. Petersburg so we could get back to work and meet our obligations related to this legal case. We had been in St. Augustine painting the bottom and topsides. We launched Abundance on March 16th and headed for St. Pete by way of Daytona Beach, and the Kennedy Space Center.


Yvonne at Kennedy Space Center

We had quite the experience when we went through the lock in the barge canal on the way to get a slip at the marina in Port Canaveral. High winds made getting through the lock tricky and docking was a challenge - I hit the finger pier hard but the new paint held up. Yay!!

We met my cousin John Dumbaugh in Key West on April 4th and he cruised with us to Sarasota where Yvonne started working at NeuroInternational shortly after. We arrived in St. Pete on April 17th and berthed at Maximo, where we had been before.

David started working for Jim Gilmour at Farmer Mold and Machine Works on May 2nd as their Environmental, Health and Safety Officer and also filled in as a tech in the Assembly area.

Farmer Mold and Machine Works in St. Pete


As of October 5th, we are anticipating Hurricane Matthew to pass along the east coast of Florida at the same time we are involved with settling the legal case we came here to deal with. We are very pleased with the outcome.

Hurricane Matthew After Pounding Haiti and Cuba


We now have a plan to complete all our necessary boat tasks and provision for a March 4th departure. We are so excited and eager to get sailing again and hoist the various country flags as we progress southward then westward to the South Pacific.

Yvonne and I went out for a walk around the area and she posed for this photo among the flowers. We had no way of knowing she would garner 126 "likes" on Facebook! What a hit - not just because she's so attractive but she's a fabulous wife and lover to me. Her friends hold her in their hearts and she's a whirlwind of an Occupational Therapist!

I am indeed fortunate.

Lovely Yvonne

New Aluminum Inflatable

We have been told that a cruiser's dinghy is there car and it's true. Up until now we have been using a West Marine HPV-350 high-pressure inflatable floor model. It is very spacious and went along well in flat water but tended to undulate in a chop.

Yvonne had been pushing hard for us to get an aluminum-hulled model so we can pull it up on shore without cutting the bottom and having it go flat. So we went all-out and bought a new AB Lammina 10 foot aluminum-hulled RIB. It's REALLY nice and has bow storage in a locker. We had a rear seat installed so the pilot can keep facing forward underway.

We will be getting a 20-hp electric start motor for it soon.


Yvonne Driving Out of Maximo Channel


Showroom Model - Lammina 10