On the hard

We had the boat pulled out of the water yesterday. The trip was uneventful until the last hundred yards. Some how I confused the markers into the boat yard and got into shallow water. Only our very short draft saved us and I was able to turn around at the last moment and get back to the channel.

Trying to turn a narrow fairway to the travel lift I drifted too close to a docked tour boat. The boat operator was on board and pushed us off. Then by over correcting De Anne had to push us off a boat on the other side before I finally got us into the travel lift slot. My embarrassment was evident, and the boat yard manager commented that he had seen worst landings. Code language for bad landing. On the positive side - no insurance claims pending.

 On the hard:

We are getting the bottom painted. The rudder with be enlarged (for better control) and the rear main oil seal replaced.

The faulty oil seal is a easy fix once you access it. Access means the transmission is removed; however, to remove the transmission the drive shaft must be moved back at least 4 inches. To move the drive shaft the rudder has to come off, therefore the boat must be out of the water.

 Current tiny rudder:

33.3 % improvement

Amid gentle breezes and warm temperatures we set forth into Sarasota Bay again. This time we went to the middle of the bay and opened the throttle to full speed. This assured a completely wanton fuel consumption; however, we had the blessing of our mechanic since he wanted to know our top end RPM's. Additionally we needed to burn off the old diesel fuel that is over a year old.

 Our return went better by a third. I aborted the first docking inside the marina, left and tried again. The second try was perfect. At least perfect in the sense we made it into our own slip and De Anne was unable to find any new hull marks.

 Ron, our next door neighbor, caught us turning around for our second docking attempt:

The next trip may be an overnight to test anchoring and so that De Anne can play her favorite night-time boat game - "what's that sound?".

 After that an exciting trip to Marina Jack's for a $600/$700 fill-up.