I sure haven’t been around the internet lately.  Sometimes I can sit in a car and answer some emails but most of the time has gone to the boat.  The shaft had to be replaced along with the cutlass bearing.  A new waterline is painted and all the bottom has been sanded.  Maybe early next week to paint her and then back in the water.  Not too much fun to leave this late but here we go again.[singlepic id=83 w=320 h=240 float=]

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Jeff, Marilyn and I went floating down the river in a Jon boat powered by a 20hp motor.  We stopped on the way upstream to swim in the docile waters of one of the lazy rapids.  On the way back we hit a rock in the same previously lazy area and the boat wedged up on its side and ejected the crew.  Marilyn disappeared underwater but re-appeared in time to retrieve the gas tank.  About a 1/4 mile down river we got the boat to shore and turned it back over but the motor case was filled with gravel and rocks.  My job was to walk down the middle of the river carrying one cell phone and one wallet.  Water depth was neck high.  It turns out they had opened the gates but we were too far away to hear the sirens.  What a nice day.

Driving to Lugoff,SC to visit a blacksmith/farrier friend that has been in Colorado for the past year.  Nights have turned cool so camping out is the plan.[singlepic id=84 w=320 h=240 float=]

I had some difficulties moving this site to a new server but things seem to be back to normal.  I am going to update the pictures of “Spark” on the for sale page.  She has been hauled to do the bottom and is in the storage lot owned by Triton Yachts.  The masts had to come down first.  Being able to take the boat apart and haul in half a day is a great feature of the Meadowlark.

We had to move out of the Schoolhouse Condos for a week so a quick trip to Pensacola was decided on.  Pictures to follow.  The dinghy needs to rejoin the boat but first it has to fit on a Toyota Corolla for the drive back to Oriental.

People are running from the heat and that is providing empty houses with a thing they call air conditioning.  The nights of last week were not so bad because of a  breeze that lasted almost all night and the lows were maybe 75.   One day we had one of those 60 knot blasts during a squall and the boat toured the anchorage.  Everything was fine.

Work has been spotty.  Some possibilities are out there but too early to report on.  I can’t even guess how the rest of the summer will play out.

Trying to plan a little trip up to Watauga Lake for a few days of chillin.  We did a install today of a NuTeak flybridge up in Little Washington.  The process is hard but the results are very rewarding.  It really dressed up the boat.  All of a sudden we have plenty of jobs so we have to tolerate the heat and keep the nose to the grindstone with the occasional trip to the mountains to make it all worth it.

I am back in Oriental and had coffee at the Bean this morning after a night anchored in about three feet of water. The boat has been great with just the one real breakdown and a minor hiccup here and there. It’s hard to go boating without something breaking so I am very thankful. Now I need to sit down and figure out a plan to keep things going. First,  I am going to install a new version of this site. Sometimes things go bad so expect a few error screens until some bugs are worked out.

I am anchored here in Swansboro with an internet connection that is helping me monitor a storm cell headed this way and packing wind. I went for a swim yesterday in Wrightsville Beach and saw that the hull was covered in heavy barnacles. This morning early I pulled “Spark” onto a sandbar at what was supposed to be low tide. The tide dropped another foot so I had a couple of hours to scrap the bottom. I still opened four bridges and made it here before dark.

What a difference. Today was in the high 80’s and I hardly broke a sweat. The boat did 70 miles of travel and that was including opening 4 bridges. I just put the anchor down in the little harbor here in Southport and thought I was next to a rock but it was only a sea turtle.. The powerboat traffic was solid all day with jet skis everywhere. It might be smart to wait until after the weekend.

There is a reason that people do this certain times of the year. I was late to leave when I turned south in early December and this is not a good time again with heat index about 114 degrees. Georgetown has been great to layover for a day. I was out of fuel and just needed a dose of air conditioning to lower the old core temperatures. Tomorrow I might only have time to travel a half day. A full day would get me to the SC-NC border but I don’t feel it will happen. I miss my stop in Isle of Hope and the friends that I made there.

I couldn’t time the tide right yesterday and did a lot of upstream rowing. It took me four hours to wash a boat for Elfin at Complete Marine Services. When I finished we all sat around and talked until almost 10pm. It’s a good group of people. My part was shipped yesterday and should arrive by Friday. I have another moldy boat to clean today.

The new autopilot is old. It hasn’t been of much use yet because it goes into a crazy panic trying to be perfect. This morning I discovered a sequence of button pushing that allows you to enter how many turns from stop to stop and even some dampening control. I also dosed the transmission with fluid in an attempt to nip any rust while I wait to put the hoses back on. I have paid the marina to tie the dinghy this morning and have a load of wash in the machine and am charging phone and laptop.

My day started with a shower on shore and then a five mile hike to Walmart in an attempt to undo the shower. It’s about 90 degrees here. Mission accomplished. I decided to track down the transmission cooler now that I was so refreshed. Ron asked Alan and Alan said to call engines1.com in Virginia and that site had a dealer search that hooked me up with Complete Marine Services right here in Isle of Hope. They wasted no time in packaging the old cooler to ship north where a new one will be made. It might show up early next week. I will have to spend as much time as I can on the boat.

The last 3 days have been good with only Jekyll Island Sound causing any trouble. I still had southeast winds and the ocean waves kept trying to slap the dinghy off the davits. Today I woke up to northwest winds that stayed light while I crossed St. Catherine Sound and I saw sea turtles and birds all day. When I got to the anchorage I had no reverse gear and not much of forward. I hope my anchor is set! They charge here to go to shore but I will need to pick up fluid first chance I get and see if that helps the situation. I will use tonight to buy a couple cans of fuel. I jumped in to check the prop and it looks fine.

The first day underway I only made 39 miles because I tried to sail for 2 or 3 hours but the winds were light. By 4 o’clock I was anchored in Julington Creek and rowed in to the Whole Foods store for a few things. I met a man in the anchorage who writes a great cookbook for cruisers. I left too early to pick up a copy but will post his website when it comes. Today I made 59 miles and am at anchor off of Fernandina’s Marina. I get wi-fi pretty far out here which surprises me. I do have to wait for the boat to swing the right way.

These last couple of days have allowed me to address some boat issues. Not the big boat but the dinghy. It’s a Zodiac and would a great outboard powered ride but it doesn’t have very good oarlocks and one was lost when I bought it. The one I found as a replacement doesn’t fit down far enough and soon bends before popping out. I found a bronze one in my tub of stuff and am trying to make it fit. On the positive side, I have the autopilot installed in a temporary configuration and have cleaned the hull. Tomorrow is the first day of music with one of the tents located a couple of hundred feet from the boat. The wind finally went to the southeast.