Today was quite productive and I got a lot of loose ends tied up as well as ran a bunch of errands in the rain. The paperwork for US Coast Guard Documentation has been mailed off and the order for new lettering placed. (name change ceremony date will be posted soon) The lettering is being done by a local shop and placement of that, along with the USCG paperwork will mean this boat is officially renamed. This name was picked out before the boat was even bought and I'm excited to see it come to fruition. The boat name is currently Madison LynScot, and I can't quite explain how much I dislike that name. It just doesn't fit and It's been a pain in the butt every time we have gotten on the radio. I'm also sick of people asking me if I'm Scott! Soon she will take on her new name and a new chapter with us..
I spent a decent portion of my childhood growing up in Hawaii (military brat) and have always felt a connection with the culture there. Even though I'm Haole as hell I still feel it had a great impact on me.
Kainoa
Nashville, TN
Meaning : Kainoa is The Sea, with no restrictions, of the sea or the free flowing ocean; the name.
Origin: Hawaiian
When we bought this boat in Indiantown and had just pulled out on the river to make our way to the keys we turned on Pandora radio and this song came on the radio. It was one of those moments where your hair stands up on the back of your neck and you can't believe what you are hearing/seeing. Here we just bought a boat and had planned on naming it Kainoa and as we pull out of the slip and start the trip this song (I had never heard btw) comes on the radio as if to say "you are doing the right thing". The chances of those things all lining up are astronomical, beyond numbers and yet there it was coming eerily out of the speakers. Jessica and I just smiled as I held the wheel and steered the course.
So I'm hoping in a couple weeks we will have an official date and will take plenty of pictures of the event.
Other Projects
I've worked out a deal with a friend and will be installing dinghy davits on the back of the boat. These will help out in more ways than one. It will give us a way to store our dinghy out of the water, as well as become real estate for solar panels. I'm hoping once the weather clears we can get to work putting them in and then getting the panel installed.
New battery bank will be ordered right before moving back to the mooring ball and a new inverter will be wired to the entire boats 110 outlets providing power to all while away from a dock. This with the new bank will make life a lot easier.
Cleaning the current fuel tank, polishing the fuel, removing an old water heater and then replacing it with a day tank. I plan on using the 60 gallon tank more for storage than to run off of, and will put in a small 15 gallon tank fed by the large one to run the engine. Multiple filters will help make sure I don't end up dead in the water, should I need my engine. Other than that odds and ends are being done daily.
The weather has been less than stellar the past week and it looks like rain for the immediate future. There are also a few things I'm keeping an eye on out there that might develop into something interesting for us. A hurricane off the coast of Mexico could easily track into the Gulf and then reform/build and there is a low pressure system off the coast of Africa I'm watching. Funny enough, most of our major storms develop from low pressure systems that come off the western coastline of Africa. We are a little nervous but know we have friends that are veterans at riding out the season here.
This afternoon we had a good line of storms come through, thankfully I wasn't out on the water because it produced a couple intimidating, yet beautiful waterspouts. One came down, stretched sideways, descended further and then went sideways again. The other looked straight as an arrow and appeared to be heading our direction. It ended up fizzling out and the storm blew through and was gone in less than 30 minutes. The sun came back out and all was well with the world.
Fishing & Visiting
So it was a busy week last week and it was a very fulfilling visit from my Grandparents. We had great weather pretty much the entire week, and I was even able to take them out on the water! Our biggest concern was Grandma being able to board the boat and it was one of the biggest reasons we moved out of the mooring field to a dock. Well she is one tough cookie and climbed right aboard! (Her nickname is Cookie btw ;-)
The day started off with firing up the old diesel, which would be doing all the work since I wasn't going to raise the sails. Now normally I hate using an engine at all and love just sailing, however it was me, the two kids and my Grandparents, whose combined age is over 160 years. Not exactly a "crew" (Figures Jessica had to work the only day that it was practical to go out.)
I hooked up the external tank, bled the line and fired the engine. With a clackity clack, she responded and purred like a kitten. This is one of the biggest projects we want to get resolved, our fuel cell is 60 gallons and needs to be cleaned/polished badly. I spoke with All Keys Diesel today and hopefully within the next week will have that done.
I let the engine run for about 20 minutes and finished readying the boat while they relaxed in the cockpit under the shade of the bimini. It was a warm, sunny day with barely a cloud in the sky. We backed out of the slip and motored through the mooring field where I was able to show them our old neighborhood and the city marina. It was high tide so I decided to go out Sisters Creek and we putted through the mangroves, past radio free America and Demi Moores old house to the open ocean. The water was fairly calm, with just a slight roll to it and we headed out to the spot I wanted to dive and anchor. The spot is Washerwomen Shoal, a structure about 1 1/2 miles out of the Sisters Creek channel. A great place to snorkel with the kids, as well as lots of sandy patches to drop the hook and enjoy the day. The nice thing about taking your house with you is you have all the comforts of home right there wherever you are. It's nice to have my fridge, water, drinks, food and fixins all where they normally are and not packed into a cooler etc.
Colby & Peyton dropped the anchor and we swung the inflatable off the deck with a halyard, lashed it to the side of the boat and used it as our swim ladder. Colby did a great job of picking the spot and the anchor bit into a nice rock on the bottom while I backed down hard on the throttle, we were set. I let out about 100ft of pure chain, knowing it was overkill for the 10 to 15 ft of water we were in. But hey if I'm diving I wanna know the boat isn't going anywhere, PERIOD. The kids and I spent the next couple hours swimming around, diving, spearfishing some dinner and enjoying the beautiful day.
After a full afternoon I dove down and tugged the anchor from under the rock and we manually pulled the anchor, as well as the 100ft of chain. (this is where you regret the amount you let out) I then fired the engine and with a clackity clack we were off and motoring again. I had decided not to push my luck trying to enter Sisters Creek. Even though at 4'6" I can eek my way in, it gets a little sketchy sometimes. I decided to go all the way around and come through Boot Key Channel, which actually takes us right by Jessica's work so we could say hello. I set the auto pilot and sat back to enjoy the 30 minute trip while talking with Grandpa and discussing how we were going to clean the nice fish I had shot. In all we had a couple hogfish, a nice grunt and a barely legal 20 & 1/2 inch red grouper. (20" is the legal size and eyeballing it, it looked close) We motored by Mommies work and she came to the railing to say hello.
Right before I got to the slip I felt the engine have a little hiccup and felt that feeling in my stomach that something was wrong and this was about to get interesting. We went to pull into the slip, only to abort after seeing the dinghy Colby tied to the dock had slipped underneath and was blocking our spot. I turned down the canal and asked someone to move the dinghy while I turned around. Thankfully they were able to get down there and pull it out of the way. As I began to execute my 3 point narrow canal turn (click on the link for a giggle) the engine coughed one more time and then died. Lucky for me I had enough momentum to finish the turn and ended up pulling into someones personal seawall dock with such a smooth docking you'd swear I meant to do it! I then went below to assess the problem which turned out to be my own fault and I'm actually amazed it went this long. I had left the vent closed and the engine had sucked the tank into what resembled a collapsed milk jug. I opened the vent, bled the lines and she fired right up. We untied and pulled into the slip without a hitch, where we were safely tied up and ready for happy hour at Lazy Days in no time. (best happy hour in Marathon btw)
Here is a video of the day and a couple dives prior all pieced into one.
There is also a better link HERE to the version with music
Current Projects
Well now that the kids are gone back to Michigan with my Grandparents, it's time to have a little fun with Jess and to get some stuff done. Right now I am working on several things and chipping away at what sometimes feels like a mountain.
1. I have a port window out and thanks to the previous owners fascination with 3M 5200 it has turned into a major project that involves me tearing the interior out of the bathroom.
2. I am working on getting the boat Coast Guard documented in our names with a name change to Kainoa. Of course this means I am also getting the boat lettering done by a local business and there will be an official name change ceremony in the future.
3. Working with All Keys Diesel to get the fuel cell cleaned, polished and back in working order. I am going to completely redo the Racor fuel filter setup and hopefully this will solve the engine trouble we have had. Every problem we have had has been related to fuel, never mechanical.
4. Replacing a bilge pump, adding a check valve, as well as wiring up a backup pump and alarm
5. Dealing with a local sail loft to make us a new much larger jib to improve the boats performance under sail. This should help us get more drive and propel the boat in lighter winds as well as balance the boat.
6. Still looking for the best ways to mount solar panels, shopping for the best ones once I figure it out and then installing them.
7. Installing a brand new battery bank, inverter/charger and wiring it all so when we go back into the mooring field every plug in the boat will be hot, not just the inverter.
There are many other non boat things going on as well, but they are even more boring than the above and include excitement such as registering our car here. That is an entire story in itself......Maybe next time.. Nah I'll spare you..
So the weather has been great lately and it's been a good time to work on projects and get in the water! After a week that was rainy and dreary, a high pressure system moved in it's been amazing. But even when it was raining, it was still nice and warm and there were several breaks of sunshine ;-) Gotta love living in a tropical paradise!
The kids and I went out on Wednesday to go diving and spearfishing. We took the new dinghy we picked up, it's a 12' Livingston cat hull and it's a very stable boat with a lot more room then our rollup. Our other dinghy is now stored so it won't get ruined with day to day, back and forth trips before we even go cruising.
We left the dock before 10am and made our way to Washerwomen Shoal a little over 1 mile offshore for our first stop. The water there is shallow with some reef structure and there are a few ledges where it drops off to 20/25 feet. It has Yellowtail, Grouper, Snapper and Hogfish, as well as all the other reef dwellers. We dropped anchor, got in the warm water and the visibility was about 50 feet. We fished there for a while and did get one fish.
Friends showed up and we moved to a few different spots, saw several things while diving including a pod of dolphin that swam up underwater to say hello. While that sounds sweet and all, the sight of something that large swimming up to you unexpected has a certain pucker factor until you realize what it is. They swam up to the kids and I at about an arms length away a couple times then took off (I guess we were boring) and Peyton took off after them! I had to use her full name to get her to turn around and come back to the boat. Any parent knows what I'm talking about ;-)
Colby also got his first fish and while it wasn't a keeper I know he was excited, though a little sad he wasn't big enough and became a part of the life cycle of the reef. We always try to be good stewards of the ocean when we are out, and only taking what we need is one of our rules. The fact is if you spear a fish and it's not legal it has to go back, which is sad since his life is already taken.
Right before we got into the boat I spotted a Lionfish and grabbed Colby's polespear and went down to dispatch him. Lionfish are an invasive species here in the Florida Keys and are destroying the eco system. They eat all the young fish and are making quite an impact on the life cycle. They are also tasty, however poisonous and deliver a nasty sting. We were in the water for a total of 8 hours and to be honest we could have been there for 8 more, we were having so much fun.
Our catch for the day.
Projects are getting done here at the dock and I'm working on re-bedding a port window at the moment the previous owner decided to permanently install with a product called 3M 5200. Lets just say that little decision he made has caused me a ton of grief, but I'll figure it out. The next project will be the renaming of our boat officially to Kainoa. The current name "Madison LynScott" has got to go! It's long, nobody ever gets it right and I'm sick of people asking if I'm Scott ;-)
Work is going well and I've moved up in the world to Assistant Manager at the store, Jessica is enjoying her job at Burdines Waterfront Tiki Chiki and things are all going as good as we could have ever imagined.
My Grandparents will be in town Saturday and I'm hoping they can finally see why it is we made this move. I don't think they quite get why we uprooted our kids and sold all our stuff to move on a boat, then move to the Keys. I'm sure if they see how much the kids have grown and how good this environment is they will understand.
More detailed updates to come after they leave with more pictures of projects etc.
Well we made the jump a couple days early and moved from the city mooring field to Sombrero Resort yesterday evening. We are now firmly secured and tied up to a dock and it feels a little strange. Maybe I'm weird but actually enjoy being out in the mooring field and the community I already miss.
This will be a really good opportunity for me to get some work done on the boat and get some bugs straightened out with our battery bank. When we re-enter the mooring field we will be in much better shape then we were before. The last update I listed the projects I'm hoping to get completed and I'm going to do everything I can to make it happen. The problem is I'm in a time crunch between getting things done and having the money to do them before we move back out to the ball.
The biggest reason for moving to the dock is actually for my Grandparents. They are coming to visit mid May and there is no way they would have gotten to see our boat if we were still on the mooring ball. Getting in the dinghy and climbing onto the boat at 85+ years old isn't happening. As much as I hate to think about it, this could be one of the only trips they make down here and I'd like them to see the boat and our life, not just from shore. Depending on the weather I"m hoping to actually take them out in the boat and maybe for an afternoon sail.
It's strange being hooked up to power and water, we are so used to heavy conservation. I'm really hoping the kids don't get used to having unlimited resources and forget what it's like to pay attention to use of power, water and limiting trash. It's easy to fall back into a life of just turning something on without thinking about what it's using or to just let the water run while rinsing dishes. I think it's a good thing for the kids to realize things aren't endless and that resources are limited and come from somewhere, just as I think it's good for them to understand where their food really comes from. *SPOILER ALERT* It's not from the grocery store!
On that note, the week down here looks like a wet one and currently it is a mediocre downpour in Marathon. Even though it storms in paradise, it sure beats the hell out of a "normal" life ;-)
After going spearfishing last week and seeing what our dinghy looked like underneath, I knew it was time for a very overdue trip to Sombrero beach to give the dinghy a good cleaning. Now environmentalists will swear that our reefs are disappearing and in decline, but after flipping over our dink I'd have to argue the reef is alive and well!
Normally we wouldn't go so long between cleanings and it should be done every few weeks to a month, but due to unfortunate circumstances it's been about 10 weeks since we have cleaned the bottom. Hey it wasn't our fault, ok well maybe it was but it was unavoidable,,,, well it wasn't entirely but that's beside the point. *head hung in shame* we forgot the combination to the lock on the outboard and couldn't find it.. Combination in hand the kids and I set off down Sisters Creek to our little dinghy cleaning beach. Now anyone that's ever kept a boat in Boot Key knows where this is, and it's a great little spot. We began by emptying the boat of life jackets, fuel tank, bilge pump, dry pack, phone, radio etc and put it on shore. Then it was time to crack the lock off the outboard /cue Mission Impossible Music
The marine environment is harsh. Between the salt, humidity, sand and rust things take a beating, which is why you should never use a conventional padlock to lock up your outboard. The combo lock would turn left but no dice on turning to the right which posed a slight problem. If you've ever opened a school locker you know exactly what I'm talking about. After some finagling, a little cussing, and a whack or two with cave man type tools (a rock) I was able to free up whatever was stuck inside and get the lock to turn right. Mission accomplished and the outboard was promptly taken off and placed up against a palm tree.
The kids and I scraped, brushed, pried, banged and tore at the colony of sea creatures that had made a home for the past couple months on the bottom of our dinghy. We would go at it with a putty knife and we would hit something that would squirt water (God I really hope it was water) all over us and then just keep going. Peyton and Colby were troopers about it and gave it their all as well. It wasn't long before fish started to show up for the free meal and there was a particularly inquisitive cowfish that was getting awfully close. There were also some crabs sneaking in on the action, they don't like being stepped on btw.
Well after two hours of scraping, scrubbing and brushing the dinghy is much cleaner, however not completely done. Some of it will have to wait a week or two and then we will go at it again. We finished and then placed the motor back on the transom, bolted it down and because I'm obviously a glutton for punishment we placed the same lock back on. We motored back through Sisters Creek a whole lot faster, lighter and cleaner!
Remember to always clean your dinghy, oh and your boat too! ;-)
So yesterday was Earthday, and what better way to celebrate then cleaning up our very own backyard here in Boot Key Harbor. Mother nature was doing her best to wash everything down and the festivities kicked off during a downpour that soaked everyone.
I had some work to do on the boat and let the kids go off for a few minutes on their own with the intention of getting picked up a little later to join in. Little did I know Colby and Peyton would be canvassing the harbor and forget about me. I'd listen to them coordinating on the radio with the other boats and couldn't believe the etiquette they have when operating the VHF. They weren't two little kids out there, they were boaters and part of the community, working hard and helping where they could.
I radioed for them to come by and pick up their old man, only to be told I would have to wait since they were on the other side of the harbor and had a full bag of trash. It was nearly an hour and a half later I finally got picked up. So off I went with them to help continue the cleanup. I managed to get around an hour of helping in before the event was almost over. I took the camera along to get some shots of the effort. The day ended with a large boat full of trash that filled up an entire construction dumpster. The City Marina and all it's employees were involved and the turnout was great.
At the Tiki there were hotdogs, hamburgers, chips and refreshments for those that helped clean up the harbor. A little bit of why we love living here. The boating community is a very tight knit group of people and it doesn't take long before these people all feel like family and for this harbor to feel like your backyard.
My Grandparents are coming to visit next month and we are going to move the boat to a dock for a while. This will allow me to get some work done that's hard to do while out in the mooring field and for us to make it easy for them to get on and off the boat. I'm looking at getting some projects accomplished and I think making my to do list public will put the pressure on me to get it done.
1. Re-bed the port windows to seal up some leaks
2. Get the fuel tank cleaned and polished as well as redo the fuel system (filters etc)
3. Find a way to mount solar panels to the boat either with dinghy davits, on the bimini or stanchions
4. Installing some new electronics and maybe a new VHF antenna
5. Things as they arise.
Below are a few shots of EarthDay 2013 Boot Key
Burdines where Jessica works now.
Burdines
The crew of KIT our neighbors
Vito from S/V Temple exhausted after a lot of work
Tiki hut full of volunteers
Outer dinghy dock City Marina
Net controller Sage
Bob & Bill (Bill helped get our engine running after the no start)
Shaun the City Marina Dockmaster
Charles from "Ship O' Fools" the coordinator for Earthday Boot Key 2013
Monday morning we woke up and the weather was just about perfect for a day out on the water. It's been blowing for quite a while and hasn't been that clear or calm out there but conditions were just right for doing a little diving and spearing.
We went out with 2 other boats and initially started at a structure called Washerwomen Shoal about 1 mile out of Sisters Creek off shore. The water here is about 10 to 15' deep and perfect for the kids. We saw a few good fish and I took a shot hitting a decent Mutton, only to have him wiggle his way off the pole spear. I chased him for a bit but lost him when I went up for air. We stayed at Washerwomen for about an hour and then the other boats said they were headed out further for deeper water and we decided to tag along.
We left Washerwomen and headed out to a location known as Delta Shoal. Delta Shoal is several miles offshore and keep in mind we are in our dinghy not a big boat. We weren't the fastest in the group, which consisted of a Carolina Skiff w/ 3 and another inflatable with Vito, but we brought up the rear and made our way out.
Delta Shoal is a completely different feel than the first spot. This location is 25ft'ish and has more structure. It also has bigger fish, more coral and better visibility. We dove for quite a bit and I took a shot at a decent size Amberjack at the bottom, just missing him because I hesitated. Colby shot a few times and overall it was a good time for our first time out. We saw eels, lots of different reef fish, huge barracuda etc. and on our way back were lucky enough to see two huge sea turtles. After almost 6 hours out there we were spent and the group hauled the catch back for a dinner at the Tiki hut. We ate quite well on a huge "Mutton Snapper" and a couple Lion fish. Potatoes, corn, rice, beans, of course the fish as well as rum ;-)
Peyton ate a little bit of everything and Colby tried some. He was afraid to eat the Lion fish though and thought he would get poisoned lol. Lion fish is great meat it's very white with the consistency of chicken.
Vito in the background.
Peyton driving us in.
Chillin
Yesterday I picked up the Engel fridge I ordered at work and after I got off came home to install it. Believe it or not the installation went great! No problems and within 30 minutes I had it wired up, running and cooling. This is a huge upgrade for the boat after our fridge went out a couple months ago and hauling ice hasn't been bad but it's losing it's effectiveness as it gets hotter down here. The fridge draws 2.5 amps max with a maintenance draw of only .7 amps. For those of you not familiar it translates into very low draw and living on a boat requires thoughtful consideration to all things that draw power. The fridge can be powered essentially by 1 solar panel it's so efficient.
To all my Williamson EMS friends. This is the same brand of fridge that they were putting in the ambulance to chill the fluids for the hypothermia protocol.
