Back to Business: Part 2

This is our last full week in Long Boat Key before we head out for Kilmarnock VA. Next weekend we are planning on driving home to return the car, get the house opened up and running, as we are meeting Katie and Max who are flying in from San Francisco to do some early wedding planning. We will fly back to LBK on May 9th and take off, if all goes well, on the 11th.

We have a lot to do before then, next week should be a busy one. Our work list seems to grow by the day and as usual it will all happen next week.

First up is a bit of  routine maintenance, we are having the hull waxed. The sun can be hard on the fiberglass gel coat, and if you keep a routine of waxing it will prevent the fading and oxidation that you see all too often.

The service department from Outer Reef is coming next week to finish some things that remain on our punch list, these should not take more than half a day to complete. We have been waiting for some parts to come in prior to finishing and everything is now in.

I am having  heating elements installed into 4 different air handlers. We have great heat on board  which these will supplement.   To heat the boat the Cruisair chiller system must be on, which when we are on the boat, is not a problem. These systems work in a heat exchange with the seawater so a pump is pulling water into the boat when it is operating. It makes me a bit nervous to be away from the boat for any length of time when the system is running. In the event of a pump or fitting failure I do not want the pump pulling sea water into the boat at a minimum it would flood the bilge and ruin several pieces of equipment. Worst case is a catastrophic flood.  These "heating elements" fit into the air handlers and operate independently so it is possible to set a low temp and keep the boat warm without operating the whole system including the raw water pumps. I am putting in a unit into the engine room, our stateroom and the salon (2): a total of 4 units.

I have a few tasks to finish on the routine maintenance side, the most important is to change the Racor fuel filters, along with maybe a dozen or so smaller jobs.

Now that we are down to our last full week our list of things to do for fun is long also. Yesterday morning we dropped the dingy and went fishing. Not many fish around however. We saw more fishermen than fish, but if was fun to be out and on the water!