UPDATE FROM BOOT KEY HARBOR
20 March 2011 | Boot Key Harbor, Marathon, FL
Cheryl - warm and windy
We are now starting our third month here in Boot Key Harbor. I am anxious to go again but looks like it will be another 3-4 weeks. Boat projects are coming along. Since arriving here we have: new fuel injectors, new battery charger, new wiring to batteries, new sewing machine and new freezer.
My old sewing machine just wasn't intended for heavy duty sewing. So, I broke down and bought a new Ultrafeed sewing machine from Sailrite. I am very happy with it and have even been asked to work on other peoples canvas on their boats here in the harbor.
The new freezer is an Engel 43 quart freezer. It is supposed to be very energy efficient, only drawing 2.5 amps. We decided to purchase this instead of having a new keel cooled fridge/freezer installed which runs around $3,000. The unit arrived dented in the back, I called Engel and no questions asked, immediately shipped out a new panel to us. Good customer service.
We are still working on building an arch for new solar panels. We have ordered the hardware for building the arch above the bimini and plan on picking up the 1" stainless steel tubing and solar panels in Miami next Friday. We hope to purchase Kyocera 135 solar panels from Sun Electronics in Miami, I say hope since they seem to be very confused as to what they currently have in stock.
Last Thursday for St. Patrick's Day Bill and I rode the bus down to Key West for the day. It's very inexpensive for the bus $6 round trip between Marathon and Key West. Fun day people watching.
Tuesday or Wednesday last week we rode our bikes to West Marine to pick up a couple of things and when we came out of the store it was sprinkling a little. By the time we made it back to the dinghy dock at the marina it was a full down pour. We rushed to get our bikes locked up and into the dinghy and back to the boat since all the hatches were in the full open position. To put it mildly that was a heck of a dinghy ride!!!!! We heard later that the "little" rain squall had winds at 49 mph.
We have definitely settled into a routine living aboard the boat. I have heard this from other live aboards, and now absolutely agree, we each have our own assigned responsibilities. Bill is responsible for anything that requires heavy lifting (water and fuel jugs, sewing machine that weigh 63 lbs, large bags of laundry, etc.) and engine, battery maintenance, etc. I am responsible for the cooking, cleaning, sewing, teak varnishing, etc. I almost feel like I'm living a 1950's existence with very traditional male/female roles.
Bill is supposed to go fishing today with his new friend David. David is a 79 year old retired surgeon from Wabasha Minnesota. David said if they catch any fish worth keeping he will fillet them since he has some experience cutting things up. David was down in the Dry Tortugas last week during the rain squall. His boat suffered a complete knock down from the high winds. He ended up in the water, hanging onto the life lines waiting for the boat to right itself. It took a while since he was under full sail. Did I mention he's 79 years old!
We are still trying to decide where we will spend the summer i.e. Hurricane season. We were thinking a marina on the west coast of Florida, now not sure. We will need to make up our minds within the next 60 days.