Work Order

When Renne' and I decided to purchase this trawler, to be honest with you, I was very much less than enthusiastic about the idea.

I had never spent time on a trawler, and consequently, never been at the helm with twin screws.  Of course we took the boat out on a sea trial prior to our purchase, and the broker was kind enough to spend time showing us the ins and outs of the "pleasures" of having twin screws rather than a single!  Out in the middle of Port Canaveral, I played with the systems and then Renne' got into the act.  It was very different.

Under normal circumstances, Renne' handles the helm of the sailboat, while I handle the dock lines and anchor detail.  She is actually better than I at doing that.  Our friend and very successful recording artist, Kelly McGuire, recorded a song a few years ago called "Woman Behind The Helm" with her in mind and that idea in mind as a matter of fact.  I have never understood why men are the ones at the helm and women are out throwing lines and trying to retrieve the anchor.  I know a woman who lost a finger in the anchor windlass.  I just think, for the most part, men are more adept for doing that!

http://redfishisland.com/audio/kingoftheisland/8WomanBehindtheWheel.mp3

(This is Kelly receiving Album of the Year for the Texas Songwriters Association)

So here was our challenge.  Renne' underwent shoulder surgery this past Fall, and I knew we weren't going to be able to manage this trip by ourselves.  First, I barely knew enough to make me really dangerous at the helm, and Renne' knew less than I did.  Therefore, Renne's position would be down at the anchor windlass or tossing lines to the docks if we had assistance, and scrambling down to the dock to tie lines if we didn't.  That wasn't going to work!!

The other, is, the engine in the sailboat is a small 54 horse Yanmar.  Simple in it's approach, and pretty easy to maintain.  The Generator, or Genset, sits just above the engine, and although it can be a pain to get to, I can reach 95% of all the engine and Genset without a great deal of difficulty.

This trawler has an actual engine room!

With two 135hp diesels.  They are Ford-Lehmans, which is the brand I preferred in a trawler, as they are pretty economical, but they are different than the sailboat, and I had NO idea what to do with them other than to feed them oil, coolant, and transmission fluid.  They are HUGE compared to the Yanmar.  Needless to say, I was apprehensive - not ready to make this step toward no sails!

Another issue was the fuel.  Renne' and I had just completed our trip north from Key West to Annapolis and Maryland!  We had had difficulties with the sailboat's fuel system all the way up and back. I think we ended up changing filters like the one below at least 15 times over the 5 months we were out.  Notice all the black sludge on the top!

I could see the same issue on the trawler, but not having any idea how old the fuel was, or what condition it was in, I could see being in the middle of the ICW, or more technically difficult, out in open water moving the boat north across the Gulf of Mexico enroute from Tampa Bay to Appalachacola, Florida, and an engine - or two - shutting down for fuel issues.  Then running down, working my 210lb body around the air conditioner and the engine,

stretching at full length to open the RACOR filter housings, spill fuel, pull the clogged filters out, spill more fuel, get black crud all over everything, put the filters into Zip-Loks, put the new filters in the housing, fill the filter with fuel, and then bleed the engine to get it started again.  All this time, worried about the huge barges and tugs one routinely runs across in the ICW!

And then do the other engine exactly the same way! Did I say I was rather apprehensive?

So the first big items I bought for the boat were rather large, rather commercial looking fuel filters from Gulf Coast Filters that had to be installed.

This included mounting the filters on risers that would withstand major map-treatment from waves and weather,

cutting into the fuel lines and installing inflow and outflow shutoff valves,

then filling them each with the 1.5 gallons of diesel fuel, and bleeding the engines so they would function.  I wanted the HUMONGOUS fuel filters to clog up before the little-tiny Racor filters I am accustomed to.  As a matter of fact, with the big filters in place, I removed the Racor filters, and fuel just flows through the housings now.

Jensen Beach to Okeechobee

12/08/2014 - Departed Jensen Beach this morning with Caroline sicker than a dog.  So she will remain in bed or cuddled up with a cup of tea all day long.  As we left the anchorage, the fog was so thick we could see only about 1000 yards ahead.  The winds were calm and temps in the low 60's.  We are thankful we have a chart plotter, radar, and AIS (which identifies commercial boats by name, speed, and location, and recreational boats if they have transponders aboard).

We made the turn west and then north onto the Okeechobee Waterway,  but found the chart plotter way off.  We were able to see the markers on radar as we were unable to see many of them visually, but our location on the chart plotter appeared to be 30 or so yards off of our selected path.

We had an interesting time when we arrived at the St. Lucie Locks at the St. Lucie South Recreation Area.

This is the largest rise in a lock I have ever experienced.  The water level rose 14' to the level of the Okeechobee.  It was impressive!

From here to Port Mayaca, on the East entrance to Lake Okeechobee, where we encountered our next lock, the waterway reminded us of the inland waterways and canals we traveled through North and South Carolina on the way north to Annapolis earlier this year.

 North Carolina (Sailboat)

Okeechobee Waterway (Trawler)

At Port Mayaca, we passed right through the open locks and into Lake Okeechobee.  By the afternoon, the temps had begun to drop into the low 60's again.  As Warren and I spent most of the day on the upper deck exposed to weather, we were dressed warmly and the ladies would make a quick trip out to make sure we were doing okay!

Of course, with two dachshunds on board, getting them ashore was a challenge.  You don't call this part of Florida Alligator Alley for no reason.  So the dogs either held it, or wandered around the foredeck looking for relief!  Actually from here a, most of the way to Houston was a challenge as the North end of the Gulf Of Mexico suffers from the same issue.

We finally docked at Roland Martin's Marina on the south side of the Okeechobee after an excellent crossing of the lake.

I didn't realize that Lake Okeechobee is the 2nd largest freshwater lake in the United States surrounded by US territory.  When we spoke with the DockMaster, he said that yesterday the lake had been 5-7 foot waves - Whew, that wouldn't have worked for us.

So stop by the boat tonite.  We aren't hard to find.  Come join us for Sundowners - oops, the sun has already set.  We only have 10 hours a day of travel as we won't do the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) after dark.  It is getting cold tonite!