Some good reasons you should never buy a boat

Troy & Lisa

Who: Captain Troy Roush & Admiral Lisa McCreery
Port: Van Buren, IN
25 November 2015 | Ft. Meyers
15 December 2013 | Somewhere in the Florida Keys
12 December 2013 | Marathon
11 December 2013 | 2 miles off Indian Key
08 December 2013 | Stuart FL
07 December 2013 | Florida
06 December 2013 | New Smyrna Beach
23 November 2013 | Virginia
23 August 2013 | From Catskill, NY to Deltaville, VA
19 July 2013 | Started in Sandusky, Ohio & we have no real destination

More from the beginning

23 August 2013 | From Catskill, NY to Deltaville, VA
Lisa
August 23- september 6, 2013
Day 1
After troy made me get up at 4AM, we caught a flight out of Ft. Wayne to Albany, NY. It'd been 3 weeks since we had been here. Got back to Riverview Marina in Catskill & we got boat opened up, unpacked our bag of parts we brought down & Troy retrieved the freezer parts from office. Simple enough...right?!?! Wrong! While I was unpacking, reorganizing, & making provisioning list, unbeknownst to me, Troy thought it'd be easier to take a shortcut to bottom of ramp... He slipped & he & the huge box of parts tumbled to the bottom. Thankfully the box of parts didn't go in the water, and... Neither did Troy! Sorry I missed the show though! πŸ˜‰ He worked all day tearing out the old freezer & installed the new one. He also got a really nifty attachment to the freezer box w 3 aluminum ice trays that stand vertically which are filled from the top. They make HUGE cubes...not really practical.

While he finished the installation I ran to china mart for provisions. After unloading & putting away provisions, Troy hoisted me to the top of the mast to replace lightbulb & put a set screw in that was missing in mast. Top of the mast is the best seat on the boat!! Forgot to take my phone up w me so didn't get any pics. It's beautiful up there! It's 58.5 feet from the water to the top of the mast. I hung around up there for a while while Troy chatted with our neighbor, Tim Fink, who had just come in this morning. He and his wife Ann have a 54' cruiser... Very nice boat & people! We traded war stories & where to & not to go on our journeys. After our visit we went to Port of Call for supper. A nice restaurant 1/2 block from the marina. Showers & bed... Been a long ass day...We are pooped!!

Day 2
Our bed REALLY, REALLY, REALLY SUCKS!!!! Neither of us slept much! I had a custom mattress topper made for it but the cushions under the topper are terrible!! Neither of us could hardly move this morning... And NO, it has nothing to do w being old! 😠 He informed me its my job to get a new real custom mattress ordered before we head back home. They're soooo expensive! That's why I went the mattress topper route in the first place... It was almost $900. Ugh!! Guess it'll be worth it if we can actually get a good nights sleep & not have to roll out of bed.

After Troy had his morning Java, we got the genoa sail (aka head sail) back up. The lines for head sail were catching on the stainless cotter pins on the stay lines so Troy went through & replaced them with stainless cotter rings... He was gonna have me go through & tape them with white electrical tape like I did on the spreaders of the mast but he'd bought the cotter rings to replace the pins with & I couldn't find anymore white electrical tape so thought it was a good place to start! Tim, our neighbor, agreed with me! πŸ˜‰

While Troy took the rental car back... Tim followed him & brought him back so he didn't have to take taxi... I cut up the watermelon, cleaned & cut up the veggies & made pasta salad. Troy & Tim did some more bench racing then toured each others boats. The people we've met over the last couple years since we started sailing have been great! Everyone is eager to help one another. We've gotten great information from other boaters & we've past along what we've incurred along the way as well.

Leaving Catskill, NY in route to Manhattan. Neither of us have been there & there's so much to see. Just the history & lives lost in the towers is enough to choke me up just thinking about it!

Anchored for the night just 28 miles north of Manhattan. Since neither of us slept much last night, we're beat!! time for supper, showers, & much needed sleep!!! Ate at little restaurant called the Boathouse. Good sea food & very strong drinks... We got what we paid for there!!! My rum punch was rum w a shot of punch for color... WOW!

Day 3
Actually had a good nights sleep! Pulled anchor & now headed for Manhattan. We're about 2 hours out. Water is calm. Theres no wind so we'll be motoring all morning.

Been an uneventful morning. Arrived around 11. Took lots of pics along way... Nothing else to do. 😊 Docking at Liberty Marina on NJ side. It's directly north of the Statue of Liberty. A nice marina. Waiting in line for fuel then we'll get our slip & dock for today & tonight.

Taking the Liberty Ferry over to Manhattan for the day after we grab some lunch.
Wow... What a day!! Lunch sucked... hot dog stand that just opened up next to a really nice restaurant. Thought that was sign it should be decent at least... NOT! Oh well, did lots of sight seeing. The new tower is amazing & overwhelmingly huge! Lots of construction still going on... Even on a Sunday no less. We walked around for little while then rented a couple of their "City Bikes." I remember seeing them on the news a while back when they put them in. Pretty cool idea. We rented a couple for the day... $10 each. It's a self serve cc access. Put in your info, agree to the terms, put your cc in & it spits out a ticket w 2 access codes... One for each bike. You have to turn your bike in every 30 minutes, which I found quite annoying, then put your cc in again & it spits out 2 new access codes. Problem is... There's not always an empty slot to put your bike in so then you have to look at the map on the self service machine to find the next nearest city bike rental & hope there's not only an open slot but one that works! There's an 800# to call if one is broken but I'm sure most people do what we did which was go on & find one that works.

The sun beating down on my head all day gave me pretty mean headache so found a CVS, got drugs then searched for food since lunch was awful. We found something even better... Sangria at Don Giovanni's pizzeria. They weren't serving pizza for another hour & half, don't know why, so we drank instead! 😜 Sangria kicks my butt every time!! Troy said he was a little buzzed... Whatever! Did I mention we were on bikes!?!?! Holy crap... That wasn't very good planning... It was Troys idea!! Can I get a drinking & pedaling ticket!?! 😜 didn't get one & didn't crash or fall off my bike... Went 3 blocks the wrong way down a one way... Oh well, I was only going one way & it was a short cut!!

Took ferry back, had supper & called it a night. Tomorrow we're gonna sail to the Statue of Liberty. πŸ—½

Day 4
Up & getting things ready to take off. While cleaning up dishes the pump wasn't shutting off like its suppose to so Troy took it apart, cleaned out filter, then went to the office marina & bought a new pump. πŸ˜’ He got it installed & we took off. Decent winds this morning so sails are out & we're sailing passed the Statue of Liberty. Took lots of pics... Pretty cool to see in person what you've seen all your life in pics. She's a big green woman holding a torch... Maybe for the hulk...lol. Seriously though... It's something everyone needs to see & experience. It brings you back to reality very quickly. Many lives have forever been changed because of 9/11. My oldest nephew Scott Taylor, was a tank driver at the time & was one of the first tanks over enemy lines. The not knowing is heart wrenching & a blessing. We went on, "No news is good news." He did 5 tours in Iraq & is now in Korea for a 2 year tour. We're all very proud of him!!

Wind is on our nose... As usual. Doesn't ever matter what direction we're going in, the wind is always on our nose! My head is still pounding from yesterday so took migraine meds this time. Not a good day for head to b pounding! My thyroid meds already had me queasy, then put the other on top of that queasiness is a recipe for disaster... Ugh!! 😞

Pretty uneventful day. Sailing got REALLY rough & so did I! Threw up so hard I had tears running down my leg.πŸ˜’ Then right into dry heaves... You know the kind... Your stomach lining is all thats left in there but your body wants to check just in case. Your eyes feel like they're going to pop out of your head,all the capillaries in them rupture, you're sure your ear drums are gonna burst, positive someone punched you in the ribs 100x, you're sweating like a pig & your saliva glands are in overload...yep, now I'm dehydrated! I know... TMI! Just wanted to share the total experience so you don't get the impression it's all glamour & glitz... It's work... On top of being sick, it still takes both of us to pull in lines, let out lines, trim the sails, bring the sails in, let them out... All I can say is... Hang onto your ass Fred cause we're going for a ride! Most of the day we were at a 45 degree angle w the water. Makes it a challenge to stand up, walk, sit, go to the bathroom, cook, yada yada yada 😬

We went inlet for the night. We ended up with a chauffeur going in. We had sea tow in front of us & coast guard behind us towing in a very small vessel or a dink... Too dark to tell. We grabbed a mooring ball. A mooring ball is just that... A huge ball in the water with either lines attached to the top or a cleat on it you run lines through & its attached to the bottom. I prefer a mooring ball if there are any over anchoring. The mooring ball does pretty good job holding you in place. When we anchor neither of us sleep well. Troys up every so often checking to make sure our line is holding & we're not drifting. He's a worry wort & worry worts love company so he makes it difficult to sleep with his up & down all night then he's a total bear the next day cause "HE" didn't get any sleep... Whatever! Keep in mind; our anchor is 73#, 2.5'long & 1.5' wide. Looks like a huge scoop shovel. If you're unfamiliar with anchors... It's big enough & heavy enough to hold a damn battle ship! Plus there's 50' of chain before you even get to the rope & the chain weighs at least 500# plus we have an anchor alarm that'll go off if the anchor moves! FYI... WE'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE ROUSH! lol 😜

Was nice to be standing up right & not moving!!! Don't think Troy felt the greatest most of the day either so it was a good call on his part to go inlet. Fixed meatless spaghetti for supper. We learned couple years ago, if I'm sick, DO NOT COOK MEAT!! The smell of meat cooking amplifies it 10 fold! Felt soooo much better after eating, taking more meds for head & a shower. Time for some sleep so we can do it all over again tomorrow. Woohoo... It's all about the adventure! 😊

Day 5
Feeling much better today. Still bit of headache still so after eating took more meds & today I put a patch on. Patch wouldn't have done me any good yesterday since I was already nauseated from my thyroid meds before we left dock.

Not really much to report today. We went on a massive killing spree!! We sailed a little closer inland & got invaded by those awful biting flies!! We had fly carcasses all over cockpit... Can't tell how many times had to sweep them off boat. They're mean!!! Thank heaven for cheap fly squatters from dollar general! πŸ˜‰

Sailing was pretty mild... And my patch did its job today!!! Headache went away, I'm sure wearing my glasses all day had nothing to do with it☺

We anchored in Cape May, NJ, for night. Tossed dink off boat & went in for supper. Fisherman's Warf is a crazy place!! There's a really nice restaurant, a raw bar, a take out window, a desert store or you can set on a boat full of tables & a bar & have drinks & appetizers. The tables are all made up of those old wire spindles set on the sides w those white plastic chairs that always feel like they're gonna break under ya.

We were gonna eat at the nice restaurant but decided to eat from the take out. We had, shrimp, lobster, scallops, crab cakes & drinks & it was only $40. It was really good too. Then we had apple pie cheesecake & turtle cheesecake. They were heavenly!! Then we dinked back to boat for rest of evening & watched couple really old movies on TBS. That was our uneventful day for today. 😊

Day 6
Up & at it early. Got dink put back up on deck & pulled anchor. Gonna try make it to the Chesapeake Bay today. We'll leave the boat there up on the hard through harvest. Probably come back sometime in November & move further south.

Extremely foggy today!! There was a sailboat anchored with us that took off half hour before we did. We caught up with it in an hour... Let the competition begin! πŸ˜‰ That's all it took for Troy to turn it into a race to the Now we're taking a "shortcut" cause we're both going to the same place. It's a French/Canadian boat so of course lets best it to the channel.

I spotted the boat... We're WAY ahead of it! I showed Troy... Big mistake! Now he's gloating & wanting me to pat him on the back for a job well done... I gave the infamous eye roll & laughed at him. Men, gotta love 'em & pump their ego now & again πŸ˜„

The day got progressively worse. Started sprinkling then turned into a torrential down poor for a few hours. We docked in Chesapeake City on their free dock for the night. We got cleaned up & had supper at the restaurant next to the docks. We looked like drowned rats by time we walked there... Of course we don't have an umbrella! The waitress brought me a big stack of napkins & said, "maybe this will help." It didn't but I appreciated the gesture! Troy had tacos & I has Mahi Mahi quesadillas. Not sure what the fish was in my quesadillas but it wasn't Mahi Mahi!!! It was so fishy I thought I was gonna get sick on the first bite. I had Troy try it & he agreed... It wasn't what I ordered. Mahi Mahi is a very mild fish like tilapia & grouper. This was awful!! Waitress didn't appreciate my knowledge of fish! Got defensive when I didn't say my food was good. I took all the fish out & filled my quesadillas w salsa, cheese, lettuce, guacamole, & sour cream. Now my quesadillas are good! 😊

Tomorrows weather should be better. We like having the windows all up on the dodger so we can enjoy the sunshine & fresh ocean air... Ahhhh! 🌴🌞
Should make it to Annapolis tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow is also Troy's birthday... I already gave him his gift... My presence!!! πŸŽ‚πŸ˜˜

Day 7
Up early headed to Annapolis. Trying to beat the shift in current so we're not getting beat up all day. Still pretty good overcast but its suppose to burn off & be a nice day.

Since its Troy's birthday, I took over captain position so he could lounge & read while I do all the work. Oh, wait, I just got screwed... Admiral does all the work which is usually me! Hmmm... I need to start delegating! πŸ˜‰ Just kidding... No way in hell I could get the sails to do what he does. He's just a little bit bigger & stronger than me 😊

While we were tooling along I checked my fb to read the comments I got on yesterday's adventure... If any. The comments usually make me laugh. The only reason I started putting this on fb is because one of my best friends suggested I journal or blog our trip. So, I journaled our "First leg of Cantankerous Journey," but at the time didn't realize I can copy & paste to fb. Duh... So now you're stuck living with me!! 😜 I'm gonna post the first leg journal after today's journal post.

When my fb opened up the first thing I saw was a post my older sister Sandi had just posted. If she were within arms reach, I would've knocked her head off then hugged her! I felt sick. I got angry. My heart started racing. I started crying then I started calling.... And calling and calling and calling! She didn't pick up. I called 5 times then text her to call me ASAP!!! She called me back... Blamed it on something wrong with her phone... Right!! It's her story, she can tell it however she wants. I was born at night but it wasn't last night!!! She posted as she was leaving her oncologist's office. She has 2 more tumors. If you didn't know, she was diagnosed with breast cancer 4 years ago this month. She's had a long road to travel & it's not been easy. She had a reoccurrence a year ago, then another one in April and now this. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!! She's been to hell & back!! It makes no sense to me. There's no breast tissue left for this to keep happening. The last one was in the scar tissue... Chemo & radiation evidently don't penetrate scar tissue. This time it's in the transplant tissue... Again, this makes no sense to me! The transplant tissue is from her abdomen. And no, when her stomach growls it doesn't growl in her boob too... I asked! 😜 Gotta make her laugh, it's the best medicine besides prayers! She doesn't want anyone's sympathy. What she does want & need is lots of prayers! As most of you know, we lost our mom 6 months after I graduated from high school. I'm now almost a year older than my mom was when she died. Hard to imagine for me! I'm not losing my sister too... Not unless she pulls a stupid stunt & posts something of great importance on fb before talking to me & our siblings first... Then she better hope she can run faster than me!! Get my drift Sandra Coulter Taylor!?!? You better!!!

After talking to her I calmed down... For a little while. I'm still an emotional shipwreck but I know we're gonna beat this again! Sandi is probably one of the strongest people I know. Never thought I'd ever say that about her from past dealings but going thru everything she's been through has made her look at life in a different light. I'm proud of her & I love her very much! And that's all I gotta say about that!

Day 8
I like Annapolis! It's a quaint little town. It kinda reminds me of England. The old brick buildings, homes & winding streets. All very close together. It's a nice little town

Its laundry time...woohoo 😏 Pretty good walk to the laundry mat, but, there's a nice little Irish pub right across the street. Food was really good! Sat & chatted with a young guy who's going to the college just down the street. He was a chatty Kathy... Enjoyed listening to him & Troy discuss philosophy & the Ancient Greeks. Made laundry enjoyable πŸ˜‰

We spent our day tooling around on the boat then went back to shore for supper & walk around town some more. Took Troy to Pussars for his bday supper last night. Food was good, service sucked! The have a drink called "The Pain Killer." You have a choice of what strength pain killer you'd like... 2, 3 or 4. I chose 3 & Troy chose 4. OMGsh!! I should've gone with a #1 if they'd had it... Pretty sure it grew hair on my chest!!! WOW!!!

The USNA band played on the dock for quite some time yesterday afternoon. They're really good. We enjoyed sitting on the boat watching & listening. Today they have a huge tent set up on the dock with several vendors.

We went ashore to see what vendors they had set up. As usual we were a day late &. Dollar short... They were packing up for the night so we walked around for a while & got a bite to eat at Chick & Ruth's deli. This wasn't your normal deli! They do the food challenge at this deli. A 2lb cheeseburger along with a 3lb milkshake. The glass for the milkshake was huge!! I stuck with half a steak & cheese sandwich & a small milkshake. Troy had the Ruben & a malt. I'm going back to the title "fat & sassy" after this trip... Holy cow! I'm good as long as we eat on the boat. Troy is diabetic so I cook all low carb but its not easy to eat that way at restaurants. I'm suppose to eat gluten free too but that rarely happens. Our doc is gonna give us the usual lecture when we go in on the 9th. She always does! She's this little tiny health nut so sure, it's easy for her to lecture us! She wasn't raised on a farm where we did all our own butchering, drank whole milk from our dairy cows, & had a garden full of veggies including potatoes. Meat & potatoes is a staple for farm families... Was ours! Now we're suppose to cut out red meat, potatoes, pasta, bread & booze! Hell, there's nothing left to eat! If we did what she told us we'd b scrawny & healthy like her... Who wants that!?!? lol 😜

Day 9
Going ashore one last time to see if I can find Troys bday present. He has a pair of sperrys that he always wears on the boat. They're couple years old, the sole is almost worn through & I don't think they make anything strong enough to kill the odor! They've been wet from rain, washing the boat, pushing the dink out of the mud in the rivers & his sweaty feet! It's enough to knock you out... Time for new! Found them at the Boot store...woohoo! πŸ™Š

Stopped in "my favorite muffin" store for couple muffins. They were scrumptious! Now it's time to head out for St. Michaels. Should take most of afternoon. Hoping we'll get to see my girlfriend Steph & her husband Kirk. They're gonna try to come to St Michaels this evening if they can. They live in DC... Kirk is in the Army. Haven't seen her for couple years. Didn't realize till it was too late that they were only bout half hour away from Annapolis. Also didn't realize that's where Scott Strasemeier lives... Sorry Scott! I really liked Annapolis so will probably be back... Boat show is next month 😊

Arrived in St. Michaels around 4. Anchored boat & headed ashore. Checked out the food joints then went to the Meritime Museum. It's spread across 18 acres & I believe we walked it all!!! It took us over 2 hours & we were pooped by time we finished. Headed for down town to see what we can find. Of course we found a bar... "C Bar"lol most of the locals seam to be transient like us. Fun little bar! They made the BEST white peach sangria! Did I mention sangria kicks my butt! Only had two to Troys 1 beer & 2 vodka cranberry... I was toast but it was really good. May have to have couple more tomorrow πŸ˜‰

Didn't get to see Steph & Kirk 😒 Maybe another time!

Day 10
Slept in till 8 this morning... 7 is usually sleeping in for us!! EVERY morning I wake up to Troy asking me, " Are you gonna get up & make something of yourself or you just gonna lay around all day" to my usual response of, "nope, what for!" It's Sunday anyway, it's a day of rest! πŸ˜‰

Pretty much hung out on the boat most of the day. Troy hopped in the dink & went around the outside if the boat with cleaner. The lake water we had been in left a mess on outside of the boat. Iron out or CLR worked the best getting it off. It looked like a rust ring like you might get in your shower from hard water. I did a little cleaning up inside & mopped the floor. It was a mess!

After cleaning was done we went in town again. Walked around & thru some of the shops & ended up in the same bar. Met more boating folks in the bar. Swapped lies... Aka, fishing stories & had more "spirits" 🍹🍻🍷This time I drank most of their sangria...


Comments
Vessel Name: Cantankerous
Vessel Make/Model: Beneteau 411
Hailing Port: Van Buren, IN
Crew: Captain Troy Roush & Admiral Lisa McCreery
About:
Never had a real job in my life & don't think I'd like one! I'm a farmer in Central Indiana where my family & I farm. We farm corn, soybeans, popcorn, certified organic, & processing tomatoes. I have two grown daughters, Krista (son n law Nick) & Kari. Lisa has been a hairdresser for 26 years. [...]
Extra:
We started out 2 years ago in a 32' Hunter Vision, SV: Mucho Gusto. Not much love loss with that vessel. Mast had been compromised in a hurricane & repaired with a 3 foot sleeve... So I was told. Lost mast in March 2012 with just the jib out. I was on my way back from the Dry Totugus with my [...]

Troy & Lisa

Who: Captain Troy Roush & Admiral Lisa McCreery
Port: Van Buren, IN