More preparations

Recovering from a harrowing first shakedown cruise, Chrissy and I have spent the last 2 days readying the Hoot for Shakedown II and beyond.  I discovered a way to get some data out of our Garmin regarding the shakedown cruise.  We sailed / motored over 20 miles and averaged 2.5 kts while moving with a top speed of 5.9 kts. :-)

 

And for those interested, this was our track up and down the coast.

It makes me feel great to hear the encouragement that many of you have shared with us.  Excitement is building now at a steady pace.  We are figuring things out and if the cooling system flush goes as hoped, we will be ready.  Let's hope this stuff does a great job on the engine. 

We've replaced our Starting battery, 1200 amps of starting power now.  The old one had a dead cell and would not hold a charge so it was basically dead weight.  We have learned so much in the last few weeks, not the least of which is that we need good batteries.  

Once we aren't tethered to shore power any longer, this will be our only way to get fresh water from our tanks, have light, charge our electronics, and most of all, start the engine. So we don't feel too bad about buying a new battery, despite the cost. 

We also purchased new backup radiator cap and coolant.  That saved our bacon the last time out. Who knew? 

Chrissy is tidying up the boat and the smell of ammonia is a welcome addition to the normal boat smells, diesel, dampness, etc. 

We've also put a new coat of rubber on the bottom of our dinghy. Chrissy's hands tell the story.   She is one hard working and tough lady,  who's as determined as I am to get this boat sailing. 

We learned a new term a few days ago, "boat kisses".  Let's hope she doesn't get too many more of these nasty bruises.  

It was a good night last night as we enjoyed burgers and happy hour at the "Hoot Bar and Grill".  Both our stove and grill worked flawlessly so we are thankful for that.  The full moon was amazing last night and we enjoyed the moon-lit sky and reflected on our adventure ahead.  The Home Depot bucket pretty much sums up the way we're feeling. 

As we get prepared to shove off from here for good, we made a big run to Publix to fully provision the boat. We are as stocked as the Hoot will allow. Breakfast foods, soda, fruit juices, water, canned food, snacks, beer and wine etc.  everything that you can imagine needing. You would think we were making a big ocean passage...lol.  One thing for sure (and very few things on this adventure are for SURE), we will not starve to death.  We've eliminated that possibility. Nor are we likely to miss too many happy hours.  

We are so ready to be gone from here, but we will miss Marathon in a lot of ways.  One thing that we have enjoyed seeing is the Wyland mural painted on the front of the K-Mart. It truly is amazing!