Author: Jody - Where The Coconuts Grow

Jody lives compactly aboard a 47' sailboat with her husband Peter, little boy Brig, and a baby girl on the way! She traded in the corporate conundrum for a life less ordinary and is now island-hopping around the Caribbean. Between a quirky obsession with organizing, capturing pretty pictures, diving with turtles and burying her toes in the sand, she feeds a passion for writing by blogging about their adventures in search of surf, sun, sand and serenity Where The Coconuts Grow.

January 30, 2014

Leak Prevention

Part of the routine maintenance we like to keep up on is making sure the gaskets around our ports are lubricated. The rubber seal can dry out and crack if they aren’t maintained. If there isn’t a good seal, water can leak in when it rains or when we wash down the boat.

Step 1: Scoop out a chunk of Vaseline

Step 2: Smear all that gooeyooey-ness around the seals until they have a nice coating.

Step 3: Clean up any excess vaseline around the ports

Step 4: Wipe off your hands! Yuk! (I suppose I could have used a rag, but I wanted to make sure it was covered evenly)

Step 5: Celebrate when it rains and water isn’t leaking all over your bed anymore!!

(On a side note, one of the known issues with Whitby’s is the angle of the two aft ports above the bed. They are angled so that water collects in the corners and has no way to drain out. We either have to wait for the sun to try it out, or wipe it out. It’s not a big deal.)

January 27, 2014

FOR SALE!! 2005 Toyota 4Runner 4WD SR5

I can hardly contain the excitement… we are FINALLY ready to sell the only vehicle we have left! We plan to set sail from Punta Gorda, FL at the end of this week and we are headed for the Bahamas!! This means we need the truck gone ASAP :) We need to make our Costco run tomorrow or the next day and then we are just waiting for a few more spare parts to show up in the mail this week.

Peter bought this truck brand new in 05 and it has 235,000 miles on it. Do you know anyone in the Southwest Florida area that would be interested in buying it? Price reduced AGAIN to $6800. Fair bluebook is just over $7000. No known issues, runs great. Rubber floor mats not in the picture but are clean and included.

We really hate to sell it, but we don’t have any covered storage for long term. We can always get another one. The adventure we are about to embark on makes it TOTALLY worth selling the 4Runner.

Please spread the word!!

HERE’S THE CRAIGSLIST AD:

2005 Toyota 4Runner 4WD SR5 $6800

ONE OWNER, runs great!

MUST SELL THIS WEEK – We moved onto a sailboat and are leaving for the Bahamas, Caribbean and Central America and will not be returning to Florida. We would keep it forever if we could, but it doesn’t float :)

4WD with locking differential and limited slip differential, V6, 4.0L, air conditioning, tinted windows, iPod ready, premium stereo, DVD player installed in rear, power windows and locks, running boards, ROOF RACK and TOW PACKAGE, cloth seats with custom front seat covers, maintenance records, California titled, original owner. Small dent above gas tank, no other issues known.

January 24, 2014

Shakedown Shivers

We left the marina yesterday for another shakedown cruise out in Pelican Bay/Cayo Costa. Our first stop was the Burnt Store Marina fuel dock on the way out for our very first fill up. It was a little strange being on that side of the dock as we have been walking past there for the last three months. We filled up both tanks and our jerry cans too. The dogs got their daily treat from the marina staff as we handed over the credit card. Ouch! It was almost five times the cost of filling up an SUV! As the old saying goes, BOAT stands for bust out another thousand!

We had a nice sail out across the harbor with all three sails up. Toward the end we motorsailed a bit and dropped the sails before following our tracks into the narrow entrance to Pelican Bay.

Peter and Josh raised the dinghy over the lifelines with the main halyard and prepared for the trip to shore. The outboard was acting up and not getting fuel correctly. Peter and I chanced it to take the dogs to shore but Josh and Leah hung back just incase it stopped working all together. We made it to shore and I took the pups for a quick dinnertime walk to do their business. We got back to the dinghy dock only to learn that the outboard wouldn’t start again so Peter and I had to row back. Luckily the current was heading towards our boat this time. We forgot to grab the seat for the dinghy.

We made it back and started prepping for dinner. Leah and I had everything ready to go and I went to turn on the stove to boil some rice. AND there’s no propane! I checked the safety button on the wall, checked the breaker, everything seemed right but there was just no gas in the lines. The guys checked the tanks and discovered the needle in the gauge for the house tank was broken off. Weird! The BBQ worked fine off the small tank so they switched it to hook up the small tank to the main lines. Still no propane getting to the galley. We checked the breaker and wires but it all tested fine. It was getting late and dark and VERY chilly! We were all looking forward to a hot meal. Looks like this will need to wait until we get back to calmer waters back at the dock.

Even though we had a change of plans, we still put the steaks on the BBQ and cooked a bunch of veggies in the microwave. Our FourWinds wind generator was cookin all night long so we had enough juice to run the inverter for the microwave for awhile.

After dinner we tried for hot showers again like we did last time at anchor. For some reason the hot water heater just wasn’t getting as hot as it normally does. Peter tried a shower anyway and it was not a pleasant experience with the weather so cold outside. We’re going to test out our solar shower next time. So weird though… first the outboard, then the propane, now the hot water heater? We sure are shaking out some kinks while shivering on this shakedown :( Better to find out now than after we leave the dock for good!

It howled at 25-30 knots all night long. Josh and Leah were kept awake by the loud crashing of the waves against the bow while Peter and I had to listen to the wind generator prepare for lift off. It’s crazy how loud that thing gets when it’s really cranking. Peter and I were also paranoid about dragging anchor with the high winds so we didn’t get much sleep. Maybe an hour or two all night. The anchor alarm went off a couple times and scared us half to death. Turns out we were just swinging all the way around from where the anchor was dug in. After the sun came up we were convinced we were still holding good.

Gunner wouldn’t go potty before bed but Betsy did. It was too cold and windy out and Gunner wanted no part of that! They both went on deck in the morning though, thank goodness! No #2s but we’re off to a good start. At least we know they’ll go if they really have to.

We got the dingy back in place on the bow and began stowing everything down below. Josh drove while Peter tended to the windlass and pulled the anchor up. This time he wore gloves :) The wind was still blowing 15-18 but we got out of Pelican relatively easily. Our boat does circles around the anchor no matter how you drive her when there is wind and strong currents. The keel hit sand a couple times on the way out with 5.6 on the depth gauge. We made it out only to hit 15 knots on our nose all the way back to the marina. Peter opted to motor back to get to the dock before sunset.

We’ve got the tunes going in the cockpit as I write this and we’re all relaxing in the sun for a rolly ride back to Burnt Store :)

January 21, 2014

Bath time!

It’s bath time once a month for our pups. I’m sure this will be happening much more frequently once they are swimming everyday in the salt water :) It just takes a little patience and a little love.

Both dogs got a good brushing from their daddy and Gunner gets a treat so he’ll be good for the deshedding process. Its amazing how much they shed and this is not good when you’re a liveaboard. If you’re not careful, the dog hair will fall into the bilge and could clog up the pump. Although oblivious to it, we don’t want the boat to start smelling like ‘DOG’ :)

We try to pick a sunny and warm day so they dry quicker after bath time. As long as Gunner has a treat or toy to chew on he entertains himself while Betsy gets groomed.

Every once in a while Gunner looks back to make sure the hose isn’t coming his way again…

Then back to the bone :)

Betsy is pretty tolerant of the whole process. She knows that when she’s all clean she gets to snuggle under the covers with her daddy! Spoiled girl.

Both puppies get their nails trimmed and ears cleaned after their bath and Betsy gets real excited when we tell her she has “pretty nails” :)

Next bath time will be on the aft deck at anchor, place warm where the coconuts grow…

January 20, 2014

Today’s surprise: Busted hose clamps

Every day we learn something new about this boat. We’re just about ready to sail to the Bahamas and we’re doing a final inspection of all equipment to see if there are any other spare parts we need to order before shoving off the dock.

During a random glance at the engine, Peter noticed one of the hose clamps was corroded and split. It was amazing there was any tension left to hold it on still. Luckily this was in a location that had been double clamped so it wasn’t a code-red emergency yet. Nonetheless, this is not something you want to find on your main engine.

After a little futher investigation, Peter spotted busted clamp #2. Crap! How many more of these are there throughout the entire boat?

Here’s a pic of where both busted clamps occured:

The upper hose had a single clamp on each end and we replaced one of those. The lower hose had the double clamp and we replaced the broken one there too.

No damage was done and a small catastrophe was averted. WIN! We continued through the boat double checking all the major hose clamps, screws and visible bolts. We didn’t find anything else today that needed to be replaced but we’ll definitely be reinspecting these kinds of things during our monthly safety checks.