Position 26:06.12N
80:09:46W
Date 1600
Friday 2 March 2012
Our boat host for Caduceus’ first three weeks in Fort Lauderdale required
to have work done on his dock so the hunt had been on for a suitable
replacement. Friends, Henk and Susi Koonstra, met at a Seven
Seas Cruising Association Pot Luck Supper, came to the rescue with a
recommendation to contact Fred and Elsie Davies who live along the next canal
and where their friends Fritz and Alba had their boat. A telephone call
and a visit showed that the dock available belonged to Fred’s next door
neighbour for whom Fred managed the dock. It was just what was required
and a deal was done.
Whilst this “voyage” was all of 500 metres from Guava Isle
to Mandarin Isle, it was made a little complicated by having to reverse back
into the new canal and there was not an enormous room for manoeuvre. Susi
and Henk turned out to assist armed with boat hooks for fending and we were
soon safely in our new berth.
The first three weeks have also seen activity ashore. We have
attended All Saints Episcopal Church near Las Olas Boulevard; a wonderfully
inclusive church and member of the worldwide Anglican Communion and with a decidedly
familiar feel. Meeting of the Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) have
introduced us to new friends. An outing to the Miami Boat Show was
disappointing if you were looking for sail boats but nevertheless useful to us
for supplier contacts.
Generally organising ourselves, making use of the WiFi connection in
the apartment for email and Skye calls, getting the boat ready for living
aboard and attempting to get some exercise seemed easily to fill the available
time.
It is worth perhaps just filling in some details for the last three
weeks. We have been taking advantage of the excellent facilities,
suppliers and specialists that are on hand for a minor refit. I have
included the detail and contacts in the event that anyone passing this way and
requiring assistance may find the information useful. Telephone numbers
have been included for individuals.
First we at last replaced
our set of batteries, all 13 of them, using the Fort Lauderdale battery Company. The
old batteries had done nearly five years which is not bad at all. It was
a wise decision to have them delivered and put into place with the old ones
taken away as they represented a considerable weight. I did the
uncoupling and coupling up of the replacements.
The next major undertaking was to sort out the secondary anchor
winch. During the layup in Norfolk
the ‘Up’ deck switch had failed causing the winch to try and run
continuously. A switch was procured and fitted but then the winch
would not work in the ‘down’ direction. Enter Richard
Haselhurst, an ex-pat Brit, originally from Wivenhoe near Colchester,
who was recommended as a good marine electrician; telephone (954)
401-1290. He diagnosed the problem as a failed relay and I started the
research for a replacement. The genuine Lewmar replacement was available
at $350 with a 25% discount. Ward’s Marine Electrical in Fort Lauderdale was able
to source the identical part, as in exactly the same part but without the
Lewmar label, for $154 after Richard’s discount and I fitted it. We
now have two working anchor windlass which is reassuring as we head out for a
couple months mainly at anchor.
Next on was the failed freezer thermostat; fortunately for the food
this had failed in the on position but it was rather heavy on the electrical
consumption as the freezer tried to achieve absolute zero. A chance
encounter at the Miami Boat Show with a Climma agent for the eastern USA
showed that our existing Fridge/Freezer combined thermostat was no longer made
but that there was a digital replacement which would make getting an accurate
temperature much easier. These were supplied and fitted by Rob of
Nautical Specialists, telephone (954) 260-8859, recommended by Joel Potter the
Amel specialist yacht broker in Fort
Lauderdale
The other major work involved sorting out the solar panels and
associated controller plus the battery monitor which had developed a mind of it
own and was definitely filed in the fiction section. The solar panels
have given concern for some time and we had burned out cells on two of the four
panels. Sorting out the who and the why this very unusual problem
occurred is on-going; getting a fully wiring efficient replacement was the
priority. Bob Everhard of eMarine, a solar equipment distributor came up
with good advice and supplied four replacements at a price well under half the UK
equivalent.
Anchor Marine Electric
removed the panels and put the new ones in place. This unfortunately was
not a one man job and actually required two of them and me to get everything
off the boat and back in place without dropping valuable bits in the canal.
An upgraded replacement controller was supplied by eMarine, a
Morningstar MPPT 40 which I wired into the system. West Marine, via the
irrepressible Pam Wall supplied an upgraded replacement Xantrex Battery
meter. I also fitted digital ammeters to the wind generators so all in
all I have a much better grip on what is happening, or more importantly not
happening in the power department.
