We went boating today!

Yes, we went boating today -- well, it was only in a 11' dinghy!  We are very proud of ourselves.  We got the dinghy down from the bridge using the davit all by ourselves.  We had a small problem when we started to go for a ride though -- we couldn't find the key.  Of course, we blamed the previous owner for not giving it to us.  We tore the boat apart and did find it.

We were gone for about an hour.  We just went into the St. Lucie River and looked at houses, boats, marinas, etc.  It was a little choppy, but a very comfortable ride.

Last Thursday our Captain came and went over some systems in the engine room with us, showed us how to clean strainers on the air conditioners, helped us stow the steps we were using for boarding and helped us hook up our new ladder.   Then we went out.  Matt took us out of the slip and into the river.  I drove some.  It was fun -- I think I will like driving.  I practiced with the gears, throttle, thrusters, etc.  I even kept the boat in place while Jeff and Matt put down the anchor and brought it back up.  We have a very good 80 lb. plow anchor and lots of heavy chain.  Jeff was very impressed and said we couldn't drag anchor with that much weight -- famous last words.

We then decided to practice some more docking.  Well, the wind was gusting up to 23 mph.  It was awful.  Matt did a very good job docking several times.  It was very difficult because of the wind and because we weren't really tying up so had no help with lines.  He was trying to keep it centered in the slip while the wind had other things in mind.

We have progressed enough that we are going to start taking Monkey Business out by ourselves.  If it is not too windy tomorrow we are going out for a few hours.  Next week we may go on a little trip and stay some place for a night or two.  We need all the practice we can get.  

These postings may be boring until we really start traveling, but stick with us.  We hope to leave here by the end of December.  We are going to have some varnish work done starting Monday, so if it is finished we may leave a little earlier.  Our plans are to travel to the west coast of Florida.  We'll keep you posted.

We want to wish each of you a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We all have so much to be thankful for!

Words from Judy

Judy here.  I thought I would be the one posting the blogs, but Matt started and (1) he seems to enjoy it, and (2) he is doing such a good job.  I did want to write a little from a woman's point of view. 

Even though it is a "luxury yacht", it is still just like a house -- it needs to be cleaned, laundry needs to be done, meals need to be made, dishes need to be washed, etc.  Well, we are lucky enough to have a Central Vacuuming system, a washer and dryer, an oven, a cook top, a microwave oven and a dishwasher.  We have figured out how to use all of them.   It was a little hard to get used to the size of a "galley".  I had such a nice sized kitchen in Hilton Head -- don't take for granted your drawers, cabinets and counter spaces!  I am very good at organizing and have managed to use our areas to the best possible capacity.  It's been fun.  I've made some nice meals so far and hope to continue to cook and even do some baking. 

We are back to having glorious weather here in Florida.  Last week it got very cold (low 50's) with lots of clouds.  It was getting a little depressing, but today . . .

We had an interesting day yesterday.  The captain we are paying for training came at 10:00 and we practiced taking the dinghy on and off the boat using the davit.  It takes a little coordination, but it will just take practice.  Then we took the Monkey Business out.  This is the first time we've been out since we arrived in Stuart.  Matt was at the helm.  We went out into the St. Lucie River for a while, then came back into the marina and went to an empty area and practiced docking.  Matt backed in to 3 different slips (stern in) and drove forward (bow in) into 2.  Then we went to the fuel dock where he pulled into a smallish area in front of another boat already being fueled.  He was great each and every time.  Practice will make perfect, as they say.  While at the fuel dock, we took on 800 gallons of diesel fuel.  That should last us quite a long while -- we hope.  Also, we had the holding tank pumped out.  For those non-boaters among you, a holding tank is what holds . . . well, you can take a guess. 

We are getting used to "marina living" again.  There is lots of activity around here with all the boaters.  Their season is just now beginning so new boats arrive every day.  There is a restaurant associated with the marina that has live bands several nights of the week.  We now hear lots of music.  We are getting into all the Jimmy Buffett and islandy music. 

We have been invited for wine on two different boats.  Both couples are very friendly and knowledgeable of boating and areas to travel to.  We have learned a lot. 

Well, that's about it for now.  We are trying to figure out how to let you know when a new posting has been made (if you care to know -- several have asked) and hopefully that information will be coming shortly. 

Until next time . . .

A few details on buying a boat like Monkey Business

November 3, 2010:  Aboard Monkey Business, Stuart, FL.  Beautiful morning and it is beginning to cool off a bit.  Very warm since we arrived and, of course, a record hot Fall in Florida.  Seems like we have been enduring never-ending heat since May!  Supposed to be down to the 60's here later this week and we will enjoy that very much. 

If any of you want to make comments on our blog, just click below where it lists the number of comments -- you can read them, or not -- but below the existing comments there is a box to click that says "Post a Comment."  We are trying to figure out how you can be notified when we make a new posting, if you want to know.  More to come.  

At the risk of boring some of you, I thought I would write about the process of buying a large boat and include some details about checking out the vessel, which may be of interest.  After the acceptance of our offer to purchase the boat, we engaged a marine surveyor to check out what we were buying.  Similar to a prepurchase inspection on an airplane.  Malcolm was an interesting fellow who immigrated from Scotland about 30 years ago, became a yacht captain and later a surveyor.  He has about 5 people working for him and does about 300 surveys a year.  Considerable business in that it takes an entire day to complete the survey and that is if the weather cooperates.  Malcolm spends about 3 hours checking all of the systems, such as air conditioning units, generators, lighting, water maker, oven, dishwasher, washer/dryer, refrigerators, ice makers, etc.  The boat is then started and taken to a haul out facility to be removed from the water.  At the haul out, Malcolm checks the running gear, props, shafts, bottom condition, stabilizers, sea water intakes, etc.  Then back in the water for a sea trial.  He runs the boat at various RPMs to record fuel burn, speed, handling, etc.  He runs all the systems and electronics to see if all is well.  Monkey Business only had a few issues, such as the water maker, bridge stereo, high water alarm and other smaller items.

Next we had the Caterpillar people come in to check out the two 700 hp C12 engines.  We were asking for an extension of the 5 years warranty, which was expiring, for 3 more years.  Part of our offer to the seller was an extension of 2 years, which he agreed to, but we added a third year at our cost.  The CAT people do a full service, oil and filter change, etc. and then do a sea trial to check the speeds, RPM, etc. under full power and various other power settings.  The engines are required to reach at least 2300 RPM to qualify for the warranty extension.  This is to ensure that we were running the proper propellers and drive gear, otherwise it puts strain on the engines.  Monkey Business would only do 2291 on one engine, 2278 on the other.  Failed the CAT test.  This was a condition of acceptance, so the owner had to remedy this to get the required warranty extension.  The engines were working fine, but possibly the running gear, props and shafts, were dragging the speed down.  The owner had put a coating on the running gear to inhibit marine growth, which was noticed on the haul out, but it had a rough finish, which is not normal.  Malcolm, CAT and our broker, Paul Flannery, suggested we try removing the coating to see if the RPM would come up.  The owner paid a diver, who spent 4 hours under the boat, to remove the coating.  The coating is not really necessary, if you have the bottom cleaned by a diver once in awhile.  Result was 2320/2325 RPM on the next run.

The owner fixed all we requested of him to fix and we closed on the boat.  Sorry for all the detail, but some of you technical types out there might find this interesting.

We won't be leaving Stuart until the end of the year, so we will not have travel stories for the blog.  We will update you as we go along. 

More to come......

Lifting 66,000 pounds

Very large 5 bladed props

High and dry

Malcolm and Matt (that is not our boat bottom behind us)

Co-Captain Judy on the sea trial