INTERMISSION- By Vicki and Aaron

I bet you think that we're done, that we quit, that we gave up, that we won't finish our 30 days, but keep in mind, when we started this blog, we never said we would do 30 consecutive days. We did say we would do 30 days on 30 feet and we will do just that. It's not over, but we don't want to die a fiery death.  Let's just call this an intermission.  We have some serious electrical issues to attend to on our boat, but we'll be back.  STAY TUNED!!  

Day 23- By Vicki

We had a late start getting back to the boat.  We left Clearwater Beach and headed towards Hernando Beach at 2pm. We arrived at our home port in the nick of time, just was the sun was going down. The return trip was a mostly perfect voyage.  

Enjoying The Voyage Back To Clearwater Beach

I even drove the boat!!!

We were very happy to see Bill Watts Tripod
 Which Marks The Hernando Beach Channel

We Returned Just In The Nick Of Time

Day 23- By Aaron

I didn't tell Vicki but last night security from Clearwater Beach Marina called and said the boat was leaning and maybe it was taking on water from all the water from the storm.  I knew that too many cases of water were on the left side of the boat, so I didn't worry about it.  I didn't have electric last night and this afternoon we got to the boat.  Well the boat was there and it hadn't sunk, that was a good sign.  So I hopped in the boat, turned the keys, and luckily the engines fired right  up.  At that point I opened up all the windows and started moving the boat over to the gas pump.

I gassed up, did what we needed to do and set course for our home port in Hernando Beach Florida.  We took it easy and went slow.  Made it all the way over by Tarpon Springs where I saw the light house and the power plant and then kept on going.  At that point I must have went off course slightly, hit a bit of a low spot but was able to get though it quickly.

Leaving Clearwater Beach

Then the next marker in my mind was the Hudson Beach area.  I got through that, headed for the home stretch.  It seemed I needed to be out just a little bit further.  Started to get to another low area where there were some large rocks, but made it through all right and got further out.  I got around the turn area, made it into our channel and followed the path back to the Yacht Club, our home port.  

The water was calm when I got back, and my buddy Terry and his wife Suzanne were there to help us dock up, which was nice because it was just getting dark.  I couldn't have timed it any better.  The sun was just sinking into the water. 

I'm just getting into my home port when the sun is sinking into the water.

My Friends At The Dock Happy To See Us

Now the next immediate thing I need to do with the boat is get the electric fixed and get it hooked up to shore power.  But we made it back safe and sound and the boat ran well all the way from the Vinoy marina in St Petersburg Florida to Clearwater Beach and to Hernando Beach.

Although many things went wrong, my trusty icemaker never failed on me once.  I always had ice for the rum.

Day 22- By Vicki

We slept in our own bed last night.  I kept thinking how big the house feels, almost too big.   I think the cat could care less about being home, but it puts me at ease to have her back and safe.

Early this morning we headed towards the Tampa airport; Aaron left in the rental car, and I followed him in my car.  I'm a terrible driver and driving to the airport terrified me, but it had to be done.

Tampa Airport Interchanges
Who Designed This Clusterfuck?  It's terrifying.  

From there, we took my car back to the boat.  With no electric, the boat's batteries were dead, so it needed a jump.   Aaron lucked out and found a guy to do it for twenty bucks.  As soon as it was started, Aaron headed towards Clearwater Beach.

Aaron Safety Left The Vinoy Marina

I didn't go with Aaron on this leg of the trip, because we decided it would be best to have a car in case anything goes wrong.  I followed him by land. 

Since it's much faster to travel by car than by boat, I had some time to kill.  

I stopped and had lunch in Treasure Island.  I was talking to Natalie, my waitress, about my current adventure with the boat, and can you believe she had a story to top mine?  I almost didn't believe her, but she had the pictures on her phone to prove it. Her husband paid $16,000 for a 32 foot boat, and on their maiden voyage this past February, which included their three teenage children, they hit a mile marker sign that was underwater because someone had knocked it over the day before, and it put a huge hole in the bottom of their boat.  They were quickly sinking so her husband beached the boat on a sandbar.  He refused to abandon the boat, and it took two weeks before they could get it out of the water, so they lived on it with no power, beached on a sandbar for two weeks.  They went back and forth to land on their dingy to get food, water, and supplies every day.  It cost them over $10,000 to get her out and have the bottom fixed.  All that water damage caused a bunch of other problems, but they now have everything fixed except the AC.  Her story topped mine, so I left her a ten dollar tip on a ten dollar tab.   

Aaron made it safety back to Clearwater Beach just before the torrential downpour which we enjoyed on the car ride home.  Tomorrow morning we will continue our journey to get the boat home.  

Aaron Safely Coming Into Clearwater Beach Marina

Day 22- By Aaron

We started the day by Vicki following me in her car to the Tampa airport to return the rental car.  Needless to say, somehow we both got to the airport, just in different locations.  After I returned the rental car, I GPS'd Vicki's coordinates and found her. 

At this point we went back to the Vinoy.    Once we got there, I had to find somebody to give me a jumpstart for the boat.  I was able to find a guy who had a handheld portable charger unit.  He said he used it to charge cell phones and things like that on his boat.  It was a one try thing and his battery would be drained.  I turned the key and it almost started, but it didn't. 

At this point I made a phone call to Mike Russel, the buy that fixed our bilge and tightened the shaft seals when the boat was sinking.  He showed up in twenty minutes with a fully charged battery and some jumper cables.   Twenty dollars later the boat was running.  At that point, I untied everything, gave Vicki a kiss, and started heading towards Clearwater Beach by myself.

I made it all the way to Clearwater Beach with not one issue.  So does the boat not like Vicki?  This we will find out tomorrow because she's going to ride back with me the last leg of the trip tomorrow.

My day is not complete without a visit from a boat mechanic.

Day 21- By Vicki

I wasn't awake very long, when Tim from the Facebook Live Aboard group wrote me an urgent message about the electrical work our friend did yesterday. He wrote, "Stop Stop Stop, if he switched a 15amp breaker with a 25p breaker, this will overheat the wires and cause a boat fire. Undo this ASAP!!!! A 25amp breaker should have a 10ga wire, the 15amp breaker is most likely 14ga wire." Of course this freaked me out, and I was worrying like crazy.  Aaron called his friend who did the electrical work and told him I was afraid the boat would start on fire.  Our friend explained to me that what he did was safe and I didn't have to worry.  Even with everything running on the boat, it was running almost exactly at 15 amps.  I could see that on the panel.  The conversation made me feel better. I stalled for a while, but eventually put my trust in the boat.

Some time went by, and we were just about to get off the boat and go walking around the town, when the portable air unit started acting funny.  Aaron though I was imagining things, but went to inspect the gauges.  He noticed that the amps were randomly spiking.  He decided to unplug the portable air and said the cord was really hot.

Around this time, Aaron and I agreed that it's time to go home.  We can't use air conditioning on the boat, it's over 90 degrees every day, we having problem after problem with the boat, we are almost broke, and we are just tired.  We don't want to sleep another night on this hot boat and neither does the cat.  I'm not going down with the ship.

Aaron started walking to the hotel to find out about renting a car for the day, when I smelled smoke. I called Aaron, and made him come back to the boat.  I couldn't figure out where the smell was coming from, and asked him to help me explore.  We found that the orange extension cord burned through the new carpet and to the 2nd layer of old carpet as well.  He pulled up the floor board to assure me that the fire stopped there.  Nothing else was burning.  We unplugged the ship to shore power and found that the boat had fried that cord too.

There is obviously something wrong with the electric to the boat, and I don't think it has anything to do with our friend changing the circuit breaker yesterday. I think it's just coincidence.  Remember, amps were spiking over 50, breakers were breaking, and a power cord was fried all before he ever touched the electric. We thought the boat's ac was responsible for all the problems, but it's something else.  There must be something triggering all these issues.

We had another exciting car ride home with the cat, and we are sleeping in our own bed tonight.  The house is as perfect as we left it. No issues.

We've been testing the live aboard life on our 30 foot Searay to see if it's the life for us. After nearly sinking, overheating, sea tows, rocking, electric cord meltdowns, melting fires, air conditioner breaking and so on, we've determined at day 21 this is probably not going to be the life for us!   Maybe our next 30 days will be a tent by the sea with our portable air unit.

We are going home.  It's not over yet though.  We will try to get a good night's sleep, but tomorrow we start our journey with the boat to get her back home.
 

Exciting Car Ride With Cat

Melting Fire on Boat's Carpet

Low on Rum

Day 21- By Aaron

I decided to sleep in this morning.  It seemed to be nice and cool in the boat.   I slept in until almost 11, figured it was a holiday.  Then I woke Vicki up so we could get showers, do something nice for the day, and forget about all the stuff we've been dealing with. 

I went and took a shower, came back, Vicki putz around a little bit, we ate some lunch, then Vicki went to go take a shower.  I thought this would be a good time to start the engines, let them warm up, make sure everything was running right while Vicki wasn't around so she didn't have to worry about anything.  The engines started up right on the first try.  It was the easiest they ever started.  I let them run for about 15 minutes, then Vicki came back, we were just about ready to go take a walk around town when all a sudden I started hearing a little popping noise.  I smelt a little something, like something could have been burning, but very faint.  At that point, I looked at the amps on the master control panel and it was flipping up and down wildly.  So, I immediately turned off the air, unplugged it, and unplugged a few other things. 

I discovered that the power cord that was plugged into the new air conditioner unit was somehow melted.  It also melted the carpeting in the boat through two layers.  I also discovered that the brand new land to ship power cord that I bought, the end that was plugged into the boat, was a bit melted.  Now that the part that is on the boat that you would actually plug the power cord into fried.  One of the three steel prongs broke off and melted into the power cord.  At that point, I unplugged everything.  I made sure there was no fire.  Of course I should have turned off the refrigerator, so now the batteries are dead.  I left message with the dockmaster on his voice mail to help me out I will need a charge tomorrow to get it started so I can get it the hell out of there.

Extension Cord To Portable AC Unit Fried
It got hot and melted the carpet.

Carpet Melted Threw This Layer and The Old Carpet Underneath
The extension cord got hot and melted it.

Brand New Ship To Shore Power Cord, $120, Fried

Now I told myself yesterday that if one more dam thing goes wrong, that was it.  So, I decided, being that it's a nice holiday day, it would be easy to figure things out (By that I'm being sarcastic).  We have no vehicle at the boat, so I decided I needed to rent a car.  Again, being that it's a holiday, everything is closed.  So, I hopped in a taxi cab and took off to the airport to rent a car because I know that place is open 24 hours per day.  I got a car, drove back to the boat, told Vicki while I was doing this to have everything ready that she wants immediately off the boat.  She's going home with the cat. 

Right now, I'm at home, my actual land home.  Tomorrow morning, I will return the rental car, get back to the boat, and start heading for home with the boat.  I might decide to go half way and then get a hotel on Clearwater Beach, as I won't sleep on the boat with no air. 

Now I told Vicki, think about it and it's totally up to her, either I get dropped off at the boat and she goes home and I take the boat back by myself, or she can go with me.  Told her it doesn't matter to me.  I think she should just go back home so she doesn't have to worry about things.  Vicki said that she's sticking with me and whatever I decide to do she will be by my side.  So, tomorrow morning, I will stop at West Coast Marine and buy the part for the boat to plug the electric cord into, just so I have it and go from there.  Let's hope I can make it to Clearwater Beach.