July 2022 – Our Travels

After it spent a few days in the shop, next to the old one, being “outfitted” by Ron the “Engine Guy,” it’s finally in the yard. We could not have been more thrilled to see the new engine draped in plastic, poised for the scheduled early morning arrival of the crane. Yeah! Now to the work!

We were told the crane would be there early, so we arrived even earlier to take the dinghy down and open the bimini (roof), so the “soft patch” section could once again open the boat fully to the sky!

With the boat open, cue the flying motor!

Here she comes! Pretty, isn’t she?

STOP. Need a moment for some adjustments below.

Okay. Continue. (Remember that twirly finger from Removal Day?).

Pause to remove the front motor mount backet again. Get ready. It’s heavy.

A slight turn to avoid some wiring

Followed by a careful descent through the galley

Another tight fit to pass through the galley floor into the engine room. One might notice how bright the engine room is this time. We installed new lights. Sure is bright and shiny down there!

One final spin a-n-d TOUCHDOWN! Our new engine is IN the engine room! Very exciting, and just the beginning of a lot more work.

For today, it’s time to replace the soft patch, and…

Reverse the process – Captain and First Mate (aka camera person) reinstall the bimini, secure the enclosure panels, bring the dinghy back aboard, cover everything up in preparation for the daily summer showers, and wash all those black footprints off the flybridge level!

All wrapped up in two hours, start to finish. Wow.

Then just like that, it’s “Cheers”!

Time to celebrate with a nice cold… glass of water?? Yep, that’s what’s on board, although a bit of an adventure to get!

Amazing that a chubby man can be so agile while dancing over and around the bright engine room! (Did we mention that we like the new lights? Even though the installation of said bright lights kicked off a flurry of scrubbing and cleaning in obscure corners while the engine was out. Ha!) Anyway, while it’s wonderful to have the engine aboard, that’s just the beginning to the end of our fresh start!

So, the old engine is out. What next? Got a new one ordered? Yep, or so we thought. More on that later, because like most things recently, even receiving an in-stock engine is a story. Until then, we start

Waiting…

What does one do while stranded in hot, sunny south Florida? Besides countless hours of gnashing teeth and yelling, “what the heck?!” (Okay, that’s the clean version of Todd’s exclamations). Well, we wait. That’s all we can do. So, we wait and play games, and Susie, true to her renowned ability to find the goodness in all things, finds some adventure nearby.

Heathcote Botanical Gardens in Fort Pierce is reputably home to the largest public tropical bonsai collection in the United States, featuring 100 bonsai trees on permanent display. Some more than 50 years old! Our chosen mission: select a favorite. After carefully looking over all of them (repeatedly) and much discovery and discussion, the picks are in!

After the Bonsai section, we enjoyed other areas of the garden until being chased onto the mock farmhouse porch to sit in the rockers and wait out a typical Florida afternoon thunderstorm. Oh, well. A wonderful diversion from the waiting game.

There is always something to do somewhere on a boat, even one that’s been taken apart. Example, with the engine out of the way, the guys from the yard started the deep clean in the engine room. Let’s get in there and replace the bilge pump positioned in front of the engine, that was unfortunately overwhelmed by the spewing engine yuck.

So, why the wait?

The short version of Trials and Tribulations of the 2022 version of the “Supply Chain”

Yes, there is a new engine
It’s ordered via email on or about Monday, June 13. Anticipated less than a week for shipping.
Didn’t show up. Check with Warehouse?
Well, email order went to someone’s Junk Folder. Geez…
Warehouse, got it now? Yep.
Please ship! Wait another week.
What, you didn’t ship yet? Why not?
Oh, you thought we wanted some other customer’s engine shipped at the same time.
No! PLEASE SHIP! Wait another week
WHAT? You didn’t ship yet because nobody showed up for the extended holiday weekend? Double geez!
PLEASE SHIP, PLEASE! Wait a week.
Well, actually a week and a few days, because FedEx is now mostly independent contractors behind the FedEx name.
Finally received Tuesday, July 5. Yeah, it’s shiny! And BIG! And ours!!

Thumbs up for the new one! Not so, for the old.

Comparison of the new and old shows some new design aspects (which is good) and some things that have to be changed for our install. Ron, the engine guru, has a plan.

Going to the boat during those weeks offered plenty of mundane moments. Not much to look at but the mess and the local pelicans.

Actually receiving the engine and its accompanying “stuff” kicked off some prep work at the boat because the engine controls on both helms have to be replaced. No biggie, right? Wrong. This requires new cables to be run. OH Lord, not cables! Yep, that means it’s about to get much worse before it can get better!

We’ll keep it short.

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? So, to wrap this up and give you a visual of the aforementioned “state of things” inside the boat, here’s a current look.
Clockwise from top left: Salon, Pilothouse, Office, Head, VIP stateroom, Master stateroom, Engine room