Ups and Downs

We ended our last post with battery issues (downer). We were very relieved to learn that our batteries were fine (upper!).  Our house bank consists of 6 dual-post AGM batteries, and several of the small screw-posts had failed.  By buying adaptors and moving all the cables to the lead posts, we were back in business. Whew! This was a huge relief since we were not having much luck sourcing new ones. Ours are still under warranty from Batteries and Bulbs, and there is a store in Vero Beach (thumbs up). However, all stores are franchised, so contacting a national rep was first on the list. Once that was cleared up and the local store was willing to cover them, we were instructed to bring them in for testing, which would take at least 24 hours.  First, these suckers are really heavy, and would require a car to get them across town.  But more important, we would have no power on the boat while they were out – no refrigeration, no toilet flushing (!), no running water, no lights, no phone charging.  And even if they failed testing, that store would have to order the new batteries – with an anticipated 2 week wait time (thumbs down).  So again – whew!

Feeling newly confidant and ready to go, we borrowed Blue Flamingo’s (our mooring ball buddy boat) car, and completed a big provisioning run to the grocery store, pharmacy, auto supply (diesel oil, transmission fluid, engine coolant), and liquor store (up).  And before packing the fridge, we decided to remove the frost buildup on the freezer evaporator. There was one stubborn chunk of ice between the unit and the fridge wall, and for whatever reason, the best removal tool was deemed to be a paring knife. It is amazing how quickly that tiny piercing released all the gas through the (very) thin coolant line on the evaporator!  Had the hole been in the copper lines, the repair would have been relatively easy. But the evaporator is sealed, so it was now kaput (down).  You may recall that we installed a new one last September, so we were well aware of what we had to do (+), and the cost to do it (-).

With memories of the Canadian/Thousand Islands leg of our journey, we tried to keep things fresh with bags of crushed ice (again – no blocks – what’s the deal??). Our neighbors lent us their Yeti cooler, which helped a lot. We talked to two different techs, who both assured us that it would be a week or two to get a new unit, AND they would both be gone the next week with their families for spring break (down). We found a new unit on Defender’s website and received it 3 days later.  The installation went fine, and after ordering a few more tools, Fred was able to recharge the system (up).  After waiting for a daily parade of thunderstorms to clear out, we FINALLY got unstuck from Vero Beach!

On April 3^rd we headed south down the ICW to an anchorage near Ft. Pierce.  As we circled the anchorage and found a good spot, Fred went forward to drop the hook. The windlass (thing on the bow that raises and lowers the anchor) would not work. Granted, it hadn’t been used in 2 months, but it hadn’t occurred to us to check it before we left. We circled the anchorage for a while as Fred checked wiring, possible corrosion, etc. to no avail. We called the closest marina but they were full.  We could move on, or go back to Vero – which we did NOT want to do!  We decided to head further south to Jensen Beach, which has a large mooring field off the ICW, and hook onto a mooring ball, again.

Jensen Beach is a tiny town just north of Stuart, which is an hour away by boat, backtracking up the St. Lucie River.  The mooring field just opened last fall, and has a great new landing dock and bathing/laundry building. It is a pleasant walk to the main street, which has some good restaurants, cute galleries and a shopping center with a large Publix grocery store (the grocery store of choice just about everywhere here), and the nicest and least expensive open-air produce market we have seen anywhere! The sidewalk follows the ICW, and the darting lizards (“Florida squirrels”), flowers, palm trees, exotic plants, and water views make the walk seem shorter. Monday morning we ordered a new reversing solenoid for the windlass (that had failed once before), with 2 day shipping to the Mailboxes Etc. store, since the mooring field does not have a physical street address.

This mooring field is protected from west and north winds, and it was a pleasure to grab the closest ball to the shore and be in calm waters (+).  However, the reservation system is online, and we found ourselves having to move further out the next day since that ball was reserved for Tuesday and beyond.  We explored the village, had lunch and did a little shopping. Tuesday morning the wind switched to east/southeast at 15-25 kts, with a 2 foot chop and whitecaps rolling all day, so we did not leave the boat.  Things calmed on Wednesday, and we were happy with the notion that our part would come in and we could soon be on our way.  The delivery notice said “in by 10 pm”, but the mailbox store closes at 5 pm and sure enough, it did not arrive, even though the owner stayed until 6. The up side on Wednesday was having dinner with Mike and Tiffany, the MT Pockets crew, who now live in Stuart. We had some good cajun food, including boiled crawfish, on the pretty patio at Crawdaddy’s.  On Thursday morning the new delivery notice came with an apology and new window of April 7-9 (-).

We were elated when Jan called later that day (by now we were on a first name basis) and said the part had arrived. We celebrated with $3 happy hour drinks at the Tiki Taco outdoor bar on the way back to the boat. Fred popped the part in place and – nothing. He pulled out the wiring diagram and started troubleshooting again. We called Mike for his suggestions, since he works on a lot of boat issues, and after much checking, Fred pulled the fuse and discovered that the reset button was not working. Once he wired a new fuse in place, we had power – BIG UP! And now we have a backup solenoid in the spare parts box.

Friday morning dawned bright and we headed down the ICW to Peck Lake, south of Stuart. Jupiter Island is a barrier island that protects this anchorage. It is part of the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge and only accessible by boat, so there are few people on its wild shore.  We dropped the hook amidst the 7 boats anchored here, and were happy to connect with Jeanne and Sheldon aboard Shank’s Mare from Brooklyn NY. We met at Vero Beach when Lisa and Jeanne were sharing radio net duties. The past several days have been filled with gorgeous beach walks, shell picking, sunshine, and shared sundowners and meals. Shank’s Mare showed us all the best cruising spots on Long Island Sound, and maybe we will get to explore them later this summer. These are the things that make all the “downs” seem less formidable.

After some hard analysis, we bid Shank’s Mare fair seas as they headed south this morning without us.  We have decided that Ritual’s engine needs a serious rebuild before we go further away from the US. After calls to mechanics from Ft. Lauderdale to Georgia and the Carolinas and even to Boston, we are heading back to the Annapolis area for engine work. Andy, the one who helped us last fall, was the only mechanic to say “yes” to our rebuild, and we are grateful!  We hope to visit the Georgian Islands and Charleston, which we skipped on the way down.  And the boat will be laid up during the time we had planned to be in Michigan in July, so – at least for right now – we are happy (enough) to head back north.

Fair seas – Fred and Lisa