Antares Cruising East

November 13 -December 1, 2014
It's amazing how much you can accomplish when there is no deadline, and you just work on weekends at your own pace through the boating off-season. To squeeze the work of those eight months into one month continuous...now, that is a completely different view! The fact that we were heading out to the ocean also made us aware of the consequences if something was not completely right, that we had to make certain things worked on demand. Older boats are just that temperamental. Everything needed to be inspected and operated and brought to working order. Over the next few weeks, we checked off most of our concerns.

One of the big projects was to remove the water tank in order to reposition the bilge pump float switch and to repair the hole in the bottom of the boat. (Yes, you read that correctly: "a hole in the bottom of the boat." It's the size of a screw hole, a screw that quickly got 5200 adhesive on it and several rubber washers to make sure it held. Now it will be removed and the gap fiber glassed properly). That tank is the size of a coffin and there is no moving around once it is standing up in the middle of the cabin. We had started to put water, five gallons at a time into the water tank, so that had to be emptied. The stairs and floor/sole have to be opened; all the hoses have to be detached, the holding straps removed. We have done this before, but what a pain. It's an all-day affair, so best be getting it done. John painted the bilge area, too. It looked very nice when finally completed. Water leaked out of the cold pressure hose connection, but that was the only problem when the water system was put back together again.

When checking the thru-hull openings, the head sink was plugged. It appears the mud wasps entered through the drain and built a village inside. John disconnected the drain and reamed it out with a small diameter pvc pipe. We flushed it out with pressurized water. The engine water intake valve was very hard to work until the lubricant could work its way into it. The shower sump stopped working. So now the shower water runs into the bilge, then the bilge pump removes that water. The hot water pressure pump is temperamental. You have to tap it to get it to operate and it's behind the electrical panel and behind the engine. We use the boat hook to reach in and whack it. We spanked it into submission and now it works without prompting. The work list is unending and unrelenting. It's like trying to live an unfinished house. The Florida heat and humidity have negatively affected just about everything on Antares. I have two full pages of boating "to-dos" besides regular, everyday chores. No wonder we fall into bed every night simply exhausted.

The entire week of Thanksgiving was cold and windy. There were few of us at the boat yard this week, and most of us just worked on inside projects. So making plans for a gathering just didn't happen. I know I wanted to hunker down wrapped in a blanket with the little cube heater going. I do love our tiny living area with its compact galley and salon. I always maintain that it is much more luxurious than camping! (Alas, but much more complicated, too). The Glades office was closing that Tuesday, so on Monday, I scheduled us to launch for the following Monday, December 1. It was time, even though the work list was still very long. John breathed a sigh of relief that we weren't launching before Thanksgiving.