maintenance work .. re bedded the chain plates
working on the chain plates
it was a hot day 35 C, we could only work until about 3pm because of the heat, we had a good discussion on heat stroke and what to look for … a lot of water was inhaled
6 turtles always came for a visit, when ever we here on the deck .. and I feed them
these are all huge painted turtles, they don't hibernate like ours back in Canada, this little ones was always riding on the back of a moss covered larger one
this turtle was walking the side walk and we passed him a few times in one day, he must of walked couple of miles that day
a neighbour in Turkey Creek, Sammy James recommended a fabricator in LaBelle to make our new fuel tank, he even called to set up an appointment for us … it turns out Mr. James is Multi times world champion in Off Shore Power Boat Racing in the 1960's and 1970's, he competed in all major ocean races both in the USA and Europe … a short race is 220 miles, but most of them are 500 miles long. He is also builds boats, airplanes, and restores old vehicles. The trophies in his workshop tell quite a story. Sammy is in the Bertram boat. We hope to connect again with him when we return this November.
this is our new fuel tank on the right, one more hole is to be drilled in this photo, and unfortunately it left us quite a mess to clean up inside the tank
this fabricator makes these monster buggies
another one completed
even with racks to hold rifles
back at the boat, we spent quite a few hours cleaning out the tank
this is what we had to clean out, thru a 1 inch hole..
tank finally installed, with new fittings
the car is packed, we vacuum packed everything we left on the boat, it makes the parcel smaller and
keeps the moisture out too
the exhaust hole is plugged with steel wool, the other hole is our cockpit drains, we understand mud wasps love exhaust pipes
even though Modaki is not plugged into hydro, we thru a large anoid, over board and it is attached to
the engine
diesel, gas and water tanks are emptied and tied on to the boat, the shade cloth is now being installed, it is to stop 75 % of the suns rays
the shade cloth is sold at Home Depot in the US, by the roll, here we are using Mike's cement patio to cut it to size
when we took off the bimini, we found this tree frog up under our solar panel, Joe and I carefully caught and relocated him to a safe place, later we found out from a neighbour that it is an invasive
tree frog and we should of dropped it in the water for the alligator to get
in LaBelle, we frequently visited "Miss Patty's Formerly Yours", vintage Collectibles and Antiques
Miss Patty, caters to boaters, she has two bicycles and a cart that you can borrow to go and get groceries, banking etc. she is only about one block from the canal and docks (which are free for 3 nights), Labelle wants you to come and stay a while. At Turkey Creek, we had no water available to us, so showers was what we needed the most, one day we drove for 40 minutes to Ortona Park and campground for showers and drinking water. Miss Patty also offered us her place for our showers.
As we where packing up the car, it looked like we had to leave something behind, because space was limited, our charts from Nova Scotia to Florida took up so much room, and we don't need our survival suits (but we did coming into Florida, middle of November). We asked Miss Patty if she knew of any one that could use our canned/boxed food, and she did. We unloaded about 4 boxes of packaged food from the car .. this single mother even wanted our opened food containers, ketchup, mustard, mayo, etc.
We later found out that our donation made this family very happy.
across from Miss Patty's a Honey store with great paintings
back to the boat, all charts, books etc. wrapped in 3mil garbage bags and sealed
all bedding was vacuumed sealed
the shade cloth continues to be installed, in the 30C weather
the wind generator is unplugged and tied down, all mast wires unplugged, along with VHF, SSB, GPS,
all LED bulbs removed from lights, nothing is left plugged in, we understand that this area gets many lightening strikes, so hope this helps … the solar panels are the only thing working, we left them to keep the batteries topped up and electric bilge pump working … the propane tank got greased down, we made a cover for the outboard motor, and serviced it also
the sun is setting in Turkey Creek
more shade cloth installed and we added extra dock lines so we are double tied
we put tinfoil on the small windows to reflect the sun and heat
left Roach bait every where … just hoping the Fire/Red ants don't walk the dock lines and get into the boat
other boaters recommended Damprid to be hung every where, so we did
it was getting harder to live on the boat and put it away at the same time, and the heat made it so hot to sleep .. we looked into renting a hotel room in town, but the 100 dollars a night was not in our budget
Joe making a door way for our security/watchman to enter the boat once a week for inspection
Joe doing the last ties of the shade cloth … Joe don't fall in, there is someone waiting for you to slip
Now most of you think it is the resident alligator, and it could be because he comes around regularly, but this time its the turtles wanting to be fed …
Modaki, our home for 10 months this time is all put away for the summer, it is sad to leave her for 6 months, but this heat down here in Florida is a killer … we just wanted to get into our air conditioned car and head for Canada
