Thursday, Cinco De Mayo, 2016 - I, again, reinstalled the heat exchanger, although I won't start the engine until tomorrow, if then. The gasket material needs to set up. Much of the rest of the afternoon, I tried locating anywhere that would rent me a pressure tester for the cooling system and there were none around here...but, then I remembered that Tony at Tony's Dockside Service, who had worked on the outboard motor, had made me an offer that he may regret. He had said, "If you ever need any tools or a place to work on something for your boat, you can use my tools or shop." Well, now's the time. What a great offer. I decided to take him up on it, so I called him. The offer still stands, and I'm going to go get his tester tomorrow morning to pressurize the boat's cooling system before I even have to start the engine or add antifreeze; a great time and money saver.
                  I ordered a box of five fuses from Grainger Supply in Jacksonville today. They said they'd be hear tomorrow. That would be a surprise.
                  Since this would have been Mother's birthday, I decided to splurge and go have some of her favorite food and a margarita. I first went to the Speak Easy and had a couple of margaritas, but the atmosphere was really all wrong; a sports bar, so I got back in the dinghy and went to the next channel over where I had my bike locked to the fence and rode over to Margaritas, a real Mexican restaurant. I was surprised they weren't more crowded than they were for Cinco de Mayo celebration. They had a really good two man entertainment duo that played 60's and 70's soft rock. One of the fellows used to play in a backup band at Disneyland for many of the big name bands that used to perform there. They did a whole set of songs by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons that was terrific. You don't hear many groups perform many 4 Seasons songs because no one can replicate the high falsetto of Frankie Valli. These guys were pretty good. In fact, I've only heard one group better - Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons back in about 1969 in Fort Worth. I had been a fan for a while and had several of their albums, but never realized haw many big hits they had until I saw them live. Every song they played all night long had been a big hit. A really great concert.
                  Oh, yes, the food was better this time, too. I had the red sauce instead of the green on my enchiladas this time.

Friday, 6 May - Up early in order to have breakfast, then meet Tony at his shop to pick up his cooling system pressure tester at 8:30. I installed the tester, pumped it up to about 15 lbs. pressure and left it for about an hour. Everything seemed to be fine, but I wanted to test it via another method, too. I changed the connections and pumped it up again. This time I didn't get to but about 5 lb. pressure when I discovered a tiny leak at one of the inlets at the top of the header tank or reservoir. Unfortunately, that meant I needed to remove the header tank and seal the leak with silicone gasket, which will, again need to set up over about 24 hours. After that, I'll continue my quest for leaks in the system with soapy water and a spray bottle. I did get it reinstalled and will continue tomorrow. Thank goodness Tony wasn't in a hurry to get the pressure tester back.
                  During a break in my work, I decided to, just for the fun of it, check on the status of the shipment of fuses. Holy Mackerel! They did arrive at the post office via UPS ground overnight. I went to get them at the post office. "Sorry, they haven't been sorted yet. You'll have to come back tomorrow." I knew it had to be too good to be true. Mañana! I was close to the grocery store, so I went and picked up a few items and returned to the boat.

Saturday, 7 May - As usual, today didn't work out as expected. I thought I'd go to the post office, get the fuses that arrived yesterday, come back to the boat, pressure test the cooling system, then spend the rest of the day diving to clean the bottom of the boat.
                  Instead, here's what actually took place. At 9am I called the post office to make sure they had sorted the items that came in yesterday and that my package of fuses was waiting for me to pick them up. "I don't see them here, but I'll find them and call you right back," the man said. An hour later, I hadn't heard back from him, so I decided to head that way so I be closer when they did call. They're only open till noon and I have other stuff to do. I arrive about 10:30. No call, no package. Eleven o'clock, no package. Eleven thirty, no package. Thirty minutes till closing time, and I know nobody's going to stay and work overtime to find my package. I'm assured that someone in the back is looking. Finally, at 11:40, my package is found. All this frustration for 5 little fuses an inch long and a quarter inch in diameter, but I really thought I was going to use them today...and I can hardly leave here without clean the boat's hull. I didn't want to sit here with nothing to do till the post office opens on Monday.
                  Back at the boat, I quickly pressurize the cooling system, squirt Dawn soap on everything...and discover another very small leak at one of the bolts that holds the tank on. I depressurize and remove the tank again. I certainly didn't want to have to use silicone again, that has to set up overnight, so I figured out a way to use o-rings instead. I reinstalled the tank, then, at 5 o'clock on a Saturday afternoon, as I tightened the last bolt...I felt the threads strip out. Arghhh! No, it's not the bolt, it's the threads in the hole. The bolt would have been too easy. I need to figure out a way to fix this without having to buy a set of Helicoils and the accompanying tap. I don't have them and neither does the hardware store on this end of the island. Oh! and don't forget it's metric. Good luck finding that!
                  I consult with Gary Powers in the Houston area, a good friend of my parents, and now, me too. He's a long time sailor and knows seemingly everything about fixing boats, because he's been there, done that. He says he had to get his heat exchanger tube stack soldered by a teapot maker in the middle of nowhere near Marrakech, Morocco one time. Anyway, he gave me some good advise and ideas and I dove back into the project. On closer inspection, only the first half inch of threads in the hole are ruined and the hole is slightly over an inch deep, so I can just use a longer bolt, making use of the deeper threads. I thought I might have a replacement bolt onboard, but don't. I have to see if the hardware store on the other end of the island has a 10mm X 75mm bolt tomorrow, and if they do pedal down there and get one.
                  Maybe I'll get to see if the fuses solve my problem with the compressor tomorrow, too. It never even crossed my mind once I started having more problems with the cooling system today.

Sunday, 8 May - At 9am I called the hardware store at the other end of the island to make sure they would have the bolt I need, then headed down there on my bike. I thought it would be a good idea to buy some of the taps and dies for the metric nuts and bolts onboard the boat too. They had several of the taps for taping holes, but not the dies for cutting threads on bolts. That seemed odd to me, to have one, but not the other. They didn't have a hole saw set like I'd like, either.
                  Back to the boat about 1:00, I had to cut the bolt I'd just purchased off by 3mm to make it work, but got that done and the header tank reinstalled, tested successfully for maintaining pressure. Yes! I then put the antifreeze back in and started the engine and ran it for about 45 minutes. All appears well. Tomorrow I'll recheck the fluid level, and if it's all still in there, return the pressure gauge to Tony, then move on to the next project: cleaning the hull and getting the ropes off of the propeller.
                  Just before sunset I went on deck to put the dinghy on the davits and saw a woman fishing off the next boat over. I asked if she was catching anything. "No," she said, "Are you from Salt Lake City? I saw it on your transom." "Yes." "What part?" "Mill Creek." "We're from Holliday." That's about ten blocks from my old house. We were almost neighbors for 37 years. A small world, isn't it!

Monday, 9 May - Up early today because I wanted to return the pressure gauge to Tony and work on cleaning the hull. I got started on the hull around 11 o'clock. The first thing I wanted to do was finish removing the rope on the propeller, but as I moved past the rudder, I felt a rope that had gotten in between the keg and the rudder, so I started trying to get it out. Visibility was very poor since the tide was still coming in. I could only see about a foot. As I tried to get the rope out I noticed a jagged edge and a flap on the rudder. The low visibility was very disorienting and I couldn't imagine what I was feeling. Eventually, I ran my hand to the bottom of the rudder and discovered that a good chunk of it is gone. I'm sure this happened the very first night out sailing when I tried to enter Longboat Pass in the dark and with bad information on the chart plotter. I knew I had really grounded hard, and thought there might be damage to the keel, but since the rudder is protected by the skeg, and is higher than the keel, I hadn't thought it would be damaged. As usual, I was wrong.
                  I think this is going to be pretty costly. I'll have to have the boat hauled out and that alone will cost about $1200. Then there will be the repairs and, probably accommodations while the boat is being worked on. I doubt very seriously that I'll be able to find a boatyard that will let me stay aboard while the work is done; lawyers and insurance agencies have taken care of that. I didn't last long on that dive, I got a little chilled after about an hour. Or maybe it was the disappointment. Besides that, my air stopped. I got out to see what the problem was. I could tell immediately when I surfaced that the generator wasn't running. I had forgotten to open the vent on the gas cap. I'm surprised that it ran as long as it did. I got out to warm up.
                  I called Steve Monaghan in Ft. Myers Beach to see if he had a suggestion as to where to get work done on the rudder and he did. Unfortunately, the marina that he suggested has changed hands, probably since he dealt with them, and they may no longer be the best bet. I would, however, much prefer being stuck in Ft. Myers Beach of Ft. Myers than here in Marco Island for another week or two.
                  Regardless of where I'll be, I still needed to get the rope off the propeller, so I got back in the water, removed the rope and decided to inspect the bottom of the keel as best as I could. The water had cleared up a bit, but as I scraped the keel, the debris that came off nullified that. I did scrape most of the bottom of the keel, which was well covered in barnacles, and couldn't really detect any damage to it, but only hauling out will let me know for sure.
                  This puts me in a precarious position. No repairman is going to say how much repairs will cost without seeing the damage. To do that, you have to haul it out, and to do that, you need a specific date for the haul-out. Once it's out of the water at a cost of $1200, if the repairman quotes a price way too high, what are you going to do, say "No." It'll cost you about $150 per day just to let it set there while you wait for another estimate from someone else, and they may not be able to work on it for quite awhile...and the first guy knows that. They've got you by the ...wallet.
                  I did get to see a couple of rays pretty well today. They went past the boat, turned around and came back again before disappearing. I've also been entertained by a couple of young people on a small boat next to me most of the day, one playing a trumpet and the other a slide trombone. They've been practicing most of the day...and boy, do they need it! Actually, I could hear a marked improvement this evening, but apparently the French couple didn't. They got out a police whistle and yelled for them to stop...to no avail. Well, they did quit playing quite so loud. I do believe he was a little premature. It wasn't even sunset when he started complaining. Maybe if they'd been better it would have made a difference.
                  It's nine pm now and the musicians have switched to violins.

Tuesday, 10 May - I called my insurance agency this morning and filed a claim for the damage on the rudder. Now I have to wait for their claims adjuster to contact me and I have to decide which marina I can get it hauled out at and repaired. The repair facility suggested in the Ft. Myers area may not be the best bet, so now I have to decide where else I could go.
                  After talking to the insurance agency, I headed over to the Rose Marina to ask them about the repairs, cost, and timeline. On my way, I went by the young couple playing their brass instruments and mentioned why I was headed in. How many times has something like this happened to you; just when you think things can't be much worse, you find someone that's way worse off? The young fellow said, "Oh! We know all about rudder problems. We were thirty miles at sea when we lost all rudder control. We couldn't steer at all, so we rigged our small outboard engine up on the back of the boat and headed in. It didn't work very well, but it was getting us in...until the engine came loose and fell into the ocean." They finally had to have the Coast Guard tow them the last 13 miles to here in the bay and are now sitting about 150ft. from my boat, unable to move until their rudder system is repaired and they get a new outboard motor. I suggested they go to Tony's Dockside Engine Repair about the engine.
                  Actually, Rose Marina seems to be more reasonable on price than I had assumed, but their timeline may be a problem. They can haul me out, but they don't actually do their own fiberglass work. They indicated that it might be a week or so before the fiberglass man can make it back over here to look at the boat. I definitely don't want to just sit here with nothing to do for a week plus repair time.
                  After getting 16 gallons of water at Rose Marina, I was hailed by the French couple, Pierre and Jessy, and went over to talk to them. They wanted to know if I'd like to join them on a short tour, via airboat, of the Everglades at Everglades City tomorrow. I said "Yes," and went into town to make arrangements to rent a car. After that, I took Tony a bottle of wine for his help and the loan of the pressure gauge, a very small price to pay for all the help he's been. A short trip to the bicycle shop for a spare bicycle tire after that, then back to the boat.
                  I was only down below for a short time when I realized that another beautiful CSY44 had pulled into the bay and anchored next to me. Once they had settled in, I went over for a visit. They have owned it for about 17 years and it's more beautiful than ever. Lots of upgrades, both practical and esthetic.

Wednesday, 11 May - I picked up a rental car and Pierre and Jessy and I and headed to Everglades City about 9am for an alligator tour and airboat ride, one of those flat bottomed boats with an airplane prop pushing it from behind. We got there a little early for our tour and got very lucky. We had signed up for a quick, half hour tour, but there were only two people scheduled for a full hour tour just ahead of us. When asked if we'd like to join them at no extra charge, we jumped at the chance. We saw more alligators at their exhibit than we did on the Everglades tour, but we did get pretty close to one of them and it was still fun. I was amazed at how the captain of the airboat could maneuver the boat through such tight channels through the mangroves and at how well he knew his routes through the huge maze. It would certainly be easy to get turned around and lost in the expanse. We all had a great time and took lots of pictures.