Author: FloatsOurBoat

We don’t understand electrical stuff

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The trip from St Petersburg to Key West was intended to be our shake down trip. There’s a West Marine in Key West, and a K Mart and plenty of hardware stores to buy anything we’ve forgotten or broken. We’ve used this trip to wrestle with our electrical systems. Day after day, we’ve had the cushions pulled up, the batteries exposed, and the voltmeter out. Mike has little drawings of circuits all over his legal pad. We don’t really understand how our 12 volt system is wired, what all the switches mean, and how it all works. They say that admitting you have a problem is the first step toward solving it.

We observed that the starter battery hasn’t been starting our motor. When we turn our Perco switch to 1 which we think means that we are using our starting battery instead of our house battery banks, the motor doesn’t turn over at all. We’ve been working around that problem by using our house batteries to start the motor, but that’s not a good long term solution. So in Marco Island, we measured the current at the starter battery while turning the key in the ignition, and learned that we don’t have enough CCAs or cold cranking amps to start the engine. So we had to plunk down some money for a new 70 pound battery.

We also found that running the engine isn’t charging our house batteries the way it is supposed to. In fact, after running the motor for hours on end during our Key West crossing, we were depleting the batteries instead of charging them. I spent one night shirt with the motor and generator running at the same time! Yuck! On the positive side, our solar panels work great, and we have figured out how to interpret the single blinking led light on each controller to confirm that each panel is connected correctly and charging at a high current or low current capacity.

We reached out to Jock, Sanitas’ previous owner, and he sent us a wonderful detailed email about the electrical systems. But we still weren’t smart enough to understand it! Finally, after another day of messy chaos in the boat and reading smelly old users guides and manuals, Mike got a win. He deciphered the flood of error codes transmitted by the alternator regulator to find that it thinks our house batteries are 96 degrees Celsius- almost at the boiling point of water. Since they are clearly not that hot (we can put our hands on them and touch them) there must be a faulty temperature sensor someplace in the system. It is telling the alternator not to put out any charge for our own safety. Well we showed that stupid piece of metal! We disconnected the temperature sensor! Ha! From that point on, the alternator charges the batteries at a rate of 43 amps. Yee haw! Mike did a happy dance in the cockpit to celebrate.

Now with a working alternator, new starting battery, and fully functioning solar (plus that little Honda generator) we should have plenty of electricity for our needs. Mostly lights, navigation systems, and of course the iPad I am using right this minute!

The Rest of the Way to Marco Island

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After our long day of bridges, our next stop was just off the coast of Gasparilla Island. Not much of a stop, just a place to anchor after a long day and to get some well deserved rest. Then a short hop to Punta Rosa, within sight of the bridge connecting Sanibel Island to Ft Meyers. This was an extra fun stop, because Tom and Jeanne Lounsbury hopped in their bother-in-law’s fishing boat and came out to visit Sanitas on the hook!

They were very good sports, attempting a cockpit picnic in the slightly unpleasant drizzle. Lots of fun to congratulate them on their recent retirement, and to hear about their current east coast road tip, and even more exciting plans for a cross country RV extravaganza! Thanks to Don for zipping us over to Ft Meyers Beach for a delicious lunch at Matanzas Inn Marina… this same trip by sailboat the next morning would take us almost 2 hours! I definitely need to get used to slow travel. Also thanks for their ability to find Sanitas again to bring us home safely in the crazy fog!

We finally slipped “outside” and left the GIIW for the relative wild of the Gulf of Mexico. Sanitas was happy to finally cut off the motor and actually sail! After this small taste of freedom, we arrived at Marco Island and found ourselves more or less trapped in the Rose Marina by high winds and seas for the next four days. Foiled again!

We had more visitors to entertain us, and to break up the stay. Mike’s Uncle Brad and Aunt Marcia drove all the way over from West Palm Beach and we exchanged travel stories of their Italy adventures and new retirement lifestyle. They brought us the sweetest gift, a silver wine bottle opener with Sanitas’ name engraved on it!

We had the wonderful surprise of meeting Mike’s mom’s friend’s husband Casey (did you catch all that?) on Marco Island. Casey and Dodie have been splitting their time between western New York and Marco Island for 30 years, and own a lovely home on the island. Casey was gracious enough to take us out to dinner, listen to our excited stores, help chauffeur us to some critical boat repair errands (more on that later…) and even leant us a car for a day so that we could explore more of the island than our own two feet could cover. So far, the best part of this adventure is meeting such wonderful people!

It ain’t sailing, but it’s better than sitting on the dock

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There are two options for cruising down the Gulf Coast of Florida: “inside” on the Gulf Intercoastal Waterway (GIIW), or “outside” on the Gulf of Mexico itself. We choose the sailing equivalent of training wheels and decided to stick to the GIIW for our first few days. This croute ensured that we had barrier islands protecting us from wind and weather. And it gave us many more options of where to stop in protected anchorages each night. We didn’t have to commit to long days on the water right off the dock. The down side of this decision was the knowledge that we wouldn’t even be raising the sails for days. Instead, we would just motor along the Intercoastal, being very careful to stay in the center of a narrow channel and making sure that we kept in deep enough water for our boat’s six-foot draft.

The trip is broken up by passage under many bridges: bascule, or draw bridges, and swing bridges. On the day after Sarasota, we passed under 10 bridges that needed to open to provide clearance for our 50 ft mast.

Negotiating the bridges is an interesting process. First, I look up the name of the bridge we are approaching, to ensure I can hail the bridge master by name. Then I speak on VHF channel 9 to get the attention of the next bridge master, let him (or her) know that Sailing Vessel Sanitas is approaching southbound, and to ask for the next scheduled bridge opening time. Invariably, our cruising guidebook is out of date, and lists that the bridge opens every 20 minutes, when it really opens every half hour. Or, it states that the bridge opens on the hour, when we just barely missed the last actual opening at a quarter-till. Once we know the time, we essentially tread water to hold our place until traffic is stopped, the bridge horns sound, the two sides of the bridge fully open, and we can pass safely through the middle. Hopefully, not too many boats are coming from the other direction, or it can get quite crowded! Once we’ve passed through, I let the bridge master know that Sanitas is clear, and thank him for the bridge opening.

This can obviously add quite a bit of time to the trip. Especially when we time it badly, and arrive at a bridge just after an opening, and need to wait for another half hour for our next chance. On the last bridge of the day, we could see a beautiful blue swing bridge guarding the entrance to Charlotte Harbor. I hailed the bridgemaster, who said the bridge was going to open in 5 minutes, and that it stayed open for about four minutes. I must have sounded crestfallen when I responded that we probably wouldn’t make it in time, and would have to eat for the next opportunity. (In reality, we were thinking that if we missed this opening, we might need to stop for the night, as it was getting very close to sunset.) As the swing bridge started to open, I told the bridgemaster this was the most beautiful bridge we’d seen all day. He responded, “Flattery will get you everywhere. Hold your speed Sanitas. I’m holding the bridge open for you to pass.” Mike and I hooted and hollered, increased the rpms on the engine, and shot the the gap. And made it to our anchorage off Gasparilla Island before sunset.

We Untie the Lines

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Finally, after three months in St Petersburg, we are leaving this safe home base, and heading south. Ready or not! The marina does start to exert its own gravitational pull. The environment is familiar now; we even have our favorite walks and restaurants. We have made friends on the docks. TC and Suzanne who live on the beautiful sailing vessel Arabella and hope to start cruising next year. Robert and Rhonda on Eagle Too who have given us lots of good advice on cruising and provisioning. Doug and Glenda, from Ontario, who are doing the great loop of North American waterways, and have been fun happy hour companions. Pat and Melana who sail a beautiful catamaran and have been gracious hosts, hopefully leaving about a week after we do when their sails are replaced.

It would have been easy to keep puttering around on projects, socializing, and packing. But Drew and Sharon picked a date, and we used that as our motivation to get moving. I had to have a little heart-to-heart with Mike on our last morning in the marina. In my best wifely tone, I gently suggested “maybe it’s time to stop tearing the boat apart on new projects, and start putting the boat back together again.”

Our last few projects involved registering the car in Florida, so we wouldn’t get fined while storing it (which only took three attempts at the DMV) and selling our townie bikes. That part made me very sad, and I sent mike in to Play it Again Sports to do the deal so I didn’t have to watch. I asked if he told the clerk that her name was Olive Oyl and if he promised to take good care of her.

Anyway, on Sunday morning, 21 Jan, we finished our last fill of the water tank, last check of the electrical systems, said our last goodbyes, and finally untied the lines and left St Petersburg. Gulp!

Super light winds meant we were pretty much just motoring, not sailing, but they also ensured a smooth Tampa Bay, and an easy trip under the Skyway Bridge, past Eggmont Key, and sound into new territory. An easy six hour motor, and we were on a mooring ball at Marina Jack’s in Sarasota by 4:00. Just for comparison, to drive from St Pete to Sarasota would have taken us just over an hour. We are definitely doing slow travel now!

Put the dinghy in the water, and headed ashore to celebrate our first day at happy hour, and luckily stumbled into the Sarasota Seafood and Music Festival. Fun opportunity to dance to a soul and funk band while eating shrimp. So far, this cruising thing is off to a good start!