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.  

Day 20 - By Vicki

Last night winds were east  at 20 knots.  These east winds really get the boat rocking, and I have been having reoccurring variational dreams  the boat, with us in it, is swallowed up by the ocean.  When the boat is rocking, and I mean really rocking, I actually get up several times per night to make sure we are not sinking.   Aaron and the cat slept next to the portable air unit.  The cat got seasick again.  I cleaned up projectile vomit again.   

Aaron decided to unhook the portable air unit today and exchange it for a bigger, badder one.  This process took several hours and me, Suzanne, and Tina were responsible for making sure the cat didn’t die of heat stroke.  The boat gets extremely hot inside, extremely fast- just like a car does.  This boat it very difficult to ventilate, and impossible without a fan.  Aaron didn’t put the fan together that he bought last night because he discovered the base was so large it would take up 25 percent of the living room space.  Plus, he was just exhausted and over it. 

Eventually I carried the very fat cat up the ladder to the flybridge so we could both get some  shade and some air.  Tina and Suzanne looked at me like I had lost my mind, and maybe I have.  It’s been a very long twenty days.  The cat was ticked off at me for a while, but eventually chilled out and even started to enjoy herself.  Getting the cat down from the fly bridge was a completely different story, and I had to have Aaron help me get her down.  She didn’t like the trip down much. 

Kramit The Cat Chillin On The Flybridge

At 5pm nobody had eaten a thing, so we all walked downtown to get some Mexican Food.  Aaron and I are both very grateful for all the help we have gotten today and over the past three
 weeks.  We paid for everyone’s dinner, and wished we could do more. 

We now have a bigger, badder portable air unit and a good fan.  It’s actually the fan that Lisa was eying last night, but Aaron had his mind set on buying the biggest, baddest  fan so she didn’t say a word.  I guess we will know tomorrow if our new system will cool things off. 

Terry and Suzane With The Evil Boat



Super Classy Air Conditioning Vent. 

Day 20 - By Aaron

Today I decided that we had to get a new portable ac unit because the one we had would not cool off the boat at all during the day.  I got one twice as strong.  My buddies Clay and Terry came down to help me hook it up.  We got everything all hooked up, and then found out that it was drawing too many amps and it was popping the outlet amp.  So we all put our heads together, or should I say my two friends put their hands together because I’m just not handy, and they both had an idea.  We went back to the store, and I bought the stuff for Clay’s idea and I bought the stuff for Terry’s idea.  Clay’s idea was $40 the other way was almost $300.  But they were both damn good ideas and with what Terry came up with, having a splitter for your boat is probably a good idea anyways, and I see most other boats around her have one.  Luckily, Clay’s a pro electrician.  He changed one of the breakers from a 15 amp breakers to a 25 amp breakers for the boat's outlets.  Then it started working right.  He said don't run the air and the microwave at the same time.    We then discovered that if this particular unit is not level, water starts pouring out.  We jammed a wrench under the edge to straighten it out a bit, seems to have stopped it from pouring out, but as I mentioned in other posts a little bit of an eastern wind and this boat starts rocking like mad as it is this very second.  I truly hope that it doesn’t start leaking because the boat’s rocking so much.   

Also, while I was at West Marine, I got a new power cord for the boat.  That was $120.  I also found out that the breaker on the shore wasn't broken, the person who checked it just didn't flip the switch right. 

I did talk to the mechanic that worked on the ac on the boat before and he informed me that he belives the compressor is bad and it would cost me over $3000 for him to fix it.  Now when I went to West Marine today I decided to go to the parts department and find out how much a new compressor would be.  I also decided to ask how much would a whole new ac unit would be.  Anyone that knows West Marine knows they are an expensive store.  The price they told me to replace the whole ac unit was only $1500.  The compressor was only around $900.  So, if I can get a part for $900 and he wants $3000 obviously he’s just trying to rip me off.  He told me to replace the entire unit on the boat would cost $5000.  I think that’s going to wait until I get home.  I truly hope that the rest of this week has no issues or problems or I might just have to head home.  If it wasn’t for my wife, trying to always make me smile, I might have just called sea tow and had them tow me back. 

Day 19- By Vicki

The day started off promising.  We went to the Farmer’s Market in the morning.  We found out about a concert scheduled for the afternoon.  We were also expecting friends to visit later for dinner.  I thought our troubles were far behind us, but this boat hates us.

After the farmer’s market, we decided to get back on the boat and cool down for a few minutes before our friends; Lisa and Carl came for dinner.  When I stepped on the boat, all of a sudden, all the power to the boat went out.  Aaron said, “You stepped on the power cord.  You made all the power in the boat go out.”  Then he came outside to try to fix things.  He discovered that his power cord was all black and melted.  I felt the cord and it was extremely hot.   It’s 4:15 pm on a holiday weekend, and we have no power. 

The Boat Toasted The Power Cord

We were able to catch Wes, the dockmaster, in the nick of time, and he bailed us out again.  He had a spare power cord, and also sent his friend over to look at the boat.  It turns out that the boat was using so many amps of power that it broke the breaker at the shore.  I thought that maybe it was the TV or the portable air conditioner that was pushing us over the top, but with everything running on this boat, we only draw about 10 amps.  However, the boat’s air conditioner alone maxes out the amps at 50  or more.  We can’t use it.   

If you remember, we just paid some joker $240 to “fix” the air conditioner.  He cleaned out the line with a hose and replaced a plastic cap. I asked him what kind of maintenance should be done to prevent the air from going out again.  He said, “If it makes it through the weekend, don’t touch it.”  Neither Aaron or I understood why he would say such a thing;  now it’s crystal clear.  He rigged something that would last just long enough for him to get paid. 

When Lisa and Carl arrived, we put our boat troubles aside for the moment.  We walked over to Moon Under Water and were seated for dinner just before the torrential downpour.  It usually only rains in Florida for an hour or two, and that’s exactly what it did.  Lisa and Carl were nice enough to bring us to Walmart to get a fan and a new mirror.  After our Walmart trip, the rain had stopped and we walked over to the concert.  They made a bad day a whole lot brighter. 

Lisa and Carl Love The Boat

Now we are sitting on this boat, and it’s rocking like mad.  I think it’s trying to throw us off and sadly, Aaron is running out of rum.  At least the cat is taking this all in stride. 

Kramit The Cat is Cool With It All

We Saw People Flooding Over To The Park And Had To See What Was Going Out

Carl, Lisa, Vicki, Aaron at the 97X Concert

 

 

Day 19- Aaron

So I woke up today in a wonderful mood.  The day seemed great, it’s Memorial Day weekend, and I’m ready for some fun.  Time for us to enjoy ourselves and have a little bit of fun.  I had some friends that were coming over later in the afternoon. 

Just when I thought things were going good, all of a sudden, all the electric in the boat goes out.  I pulled the electrical plug from the shore out of the boat and discovered that it was all melted.  Now, here it is Saturday, 4:15pm on a holiday weekend.  First thing that went through my head, is I’m screwed.  I hopped off the boat as fast as I could, went over to the dockmaster’s office, and told him well, remember you said if I didn’t have bad luck I wouldn’t have any luck?  I told him what happened.  Luckily, he had a spare power cord for me to borrow. 

I went back to the boat, turned all the breakers off, went to plug it into the shore and the boat and turn the breakers back on, still nothing worked.  Then I thought I was even more screwed.  Luckily one of Wes’s friends,  not a mechanic, but he still knows a lot, came over to give us a hand.  And, speaking of Wes, I told you this happened at 4:15 pm, the marina closes are 4:30.  So without his help, I really would have been screwed.  Wes’s friend tried a couple of different things to get the electric to work again.   Then he plugged the power cord for the shore into the other side of the post for the slip next to us.  All of a sudden the power is working again.  He said that the breaker on shore tripped.  He checked out some more things, and then I discovered that the air conditioning system on the boat is obviously still not fixed.  When you turn on the air you can see the amps on the control panel go all the way up- 50 amps is as high as the panel measures.  At that point the breaker just pops.  Now I’ve written before that we now have a portable air conditioner while the air was being fixed.  We still have that, and that being said we can turn that on, tv, lights, ice makers- everything in the boat- and it only reads 10 amps.  Turn on the boat’s ac, and it tops out at 50 amps which is as high as it goes.  So there is something causing that to happen. 

I’ve got a friend of mine, Clay, who is an electrician coming over tomorrow to look at things and then take me to Home Depot to exchange the portable air unit that sucks and get another one that is twice as big and he will help me install that as well.  Now I did call the mechanic that supposedly fixed the air on the boat, and he’s going to come on Monday.  He said he thinks it’s the compressor and that if it is, it will cost $3,000 to fix it.  I find it hard to believe that that’s the case.  But if it is, the boat won’t have air and we will use the portable air and that’s why I’m getting the much bigger one. 

I’m still determined to do my 30 days.  I might leave here and give myself two days to get back home, but I’m still trying for that 30 days. 

Day 18- By Vicki

I wish every day could be like today.  The boat was calm.  It didn’t rain.  I went to my Yoga class, swam some laps in the Vinoy’s awesome pool, and got some dinner.  Today was a very good day. 

However, last night the boat broke my Walmart $5 full length mirror into a thousand pieces.  I didn't break it, the boat did when it was rocking and rolling.   I wasn't anywhere near it.  Will the boat now have another seven years of bad luck?  I hope not.  I was so mad about the mirror breaking, because now I have no real way to seeing what I look like until after I get off the boat, that I just left it there.  My wonderful husband did make it disappear.  He just informed me that cleaning up that mess was not as easy as I think, that it was a process.  I love my husband!



Had a Vanilla Blast Martini to Celebrate Getting the Air Fixed.






Kramit The Cat Loves To Watch The World Rock From The Boat

 

Day 18- By Aaron

The night wasn’t that bad, but at 7am the boat was already over 80 degrees.  By 9am, it was 85 degrees in the boat already.  Just when I was starting to get a little bit upset and I told my wife the air will be fixed or I will buy a portable unit 3x the size of the one that I have.  I got off the boat and there is the mechanic I’ve been waiting for.  After about 30 minutes and watching him grunt and groan and seem to get a little bit upset, just as I thought he was going to say I’ve done everything I could, and I thought I was going to have to flip out on him.  He fixed the boat, and the air now works.  So instead of turning off the portable air unit I got from Home Depot, I truly want the boat with two running ac units to freeze us out. 

So today, is truly a good day.  Did some work, took the trolley to the post office, went to the Yacht Club for dinner.  I  was going to make chicken at the dock, but found out that the grill that the marina has that is brand new is out of gas.  The Dockmaster was glad I told him and will bring a new one tomorrow morning which is great for the holiday weekend.  Now I think I’m just going to sit back with my wonderful wife, watch a movie, have a drink, and go to sleep before Midnight because the weather tells me that we are going to get strong winds from the east, so at that point, the boat should start dancing and rocking.

Day 17- By Vicki

The air on the boat is still not fixed.  Although we have a portable air unit, it’s usually cooler outside in the shade than in the boat.  I was reviewing the comments on the blog tonight and Uncle Raymond suggested I block off the air vents because it was losing a lot of cool air through there.  The only thing I had was duct tape, so I did some custom Vicki repairs, but the temperature actually went down three degrees in the last half hour.  I have faith, Aaron, not so much.

 

Other than the air, there haven't been any major issues.  Of course the boat is not moving yet, so we could have more bad luck on our return trip, but for now all is well. 

Aaron is not impressed with my sticky insulation, but at this point, I
will try anything.                                                                                 

I took the trolley to the Dali museum today.  I wore my Dali Shoes custom made by Skyline Soles.  This is a great museum, even if you just get a coffee and sit in their garden.  There is no charge to visit the gift shop, garden, and anyone can eat in their café.    I will need to go back there before we leave St Pete.  It's an amazing place. 

This Melting Clock Bench is at the Dali Museum. 
                          My Dali Shoes From Skyline Soles.                                                 

The Hallucinogenic Toreador  is an oil painting.  Salvador Dali painted it in 1970.
The painting is 157 in × 118 in.  and located  at The Dali Museum in St Pete, FL.

 

 

Day 17- By Aaron

Today I talked to the mechanic that’s working on the air conditioning; originally he said he would be here on Thursday to fix it.  Personally, I think he’s lazy.  He could have already fixed it, but he chose not.  So, if for some reason this doesn’t work, I’m kind of screwed because it’s a holiday weekend, and nobody will be able to do anything until next Tuesday or Wednesday.  So I cross my fingers that this will actually fix it, but in the back of the mind I kind of doubt it.

Boat repairs aside, it was a very nice day.  I went out of my way to do a couple things and surprise her when she came back from shopping and going to museums.  Still got work done, and of course, went on a nice long walk with Vicki and found a place that had great nachos for two for $5. 

I tell you, this area is a lot of fun, as long as I don’t have to worry about any extra boat issues to worry about.  But, we still have some time left.  I’m sure things will just get better.  At least I secretly hope so. 

Day 16- By Vicki

Today was another great day.  I though every day would be like this on our trip.  The boat was calm; I got to go do what I wanted to today, and no real issues.  The only thing that bothered me was the heat.  It was so hot in this boat, 86 degrees today.  The portable air conditioner is better than nothing, but not the best.

Since there were no mechanics scheduled for today, a rare occurrence, Aaron and I cleaned up and organized the boat this morning.  In such a small space the clutter is a problem.  I'm tripping over things and I can't stand to look at the mess.  Now that things are put away the cabin feels much bigger and I'm much more comfortable. 

I took the 50 cent trolley to the  Florida Holocaust Museum.  I have North American Reciprocal Museum(NARM) membership so I can go to museums all over the country for free.  I would defiantly recommend this museum.  There is a lot of information about what happed before, during, and after the Holocaust that you can't easily learn from movies or the internet.  The museum focuses on the best and worst of human behavior, and how just one person can change, even save or take, so many lives. 

Boxcar #113 0695-5 was used by the Nazis to transport Jews to killing centers.  There are
 only three of these boxcars in the United States and it's the only one in the world that is in
it's original condition, it hasn't been refurbished.  This boxcar is on display at the              
Florida Holocaust Museum in St Pete.                                                                                          

 

We have been finding all the great deals around town for food and drinks.  Tonight we went to this very fancy restaurant, Cassis,  that was having their five year anniversary party.  All their drinks, appetizers and salads were only five dollars each.  Usually these items are between $10 and $18. 

Krammy the Cat finally discovered the portable air conditioner today.  She was afraid of it for the first couple of days, but now she is worshipping it.  She seems to be pretty happy being on the boat.

Krammy The Cat Worships The Portable Air Conditioner

 

Day 16- By Aaron

So it’s a new day today.  Nobody is coming to look at the boat, hopefully nothing bad will happen today.  The AC unit we got works wonderful for evenings, horrible during the day.  Just have to wake up early, stay up on the back inside area of the boat if you want to be on the boat and be a little cool, but tomorrow, the part should be and I truly hope that the air will be fixed. 

Other than that, today seemed to be a wonderful day.  Worked a little during the day in the hotel lobby, then went to a five year anniversary party at a restaurant got some decent, which normally is expensive food cheap.  I’m sure you can see the picture of the food we got- appatizers, drinks and salads were only $5 each, can’t beat that in Downtown St Pete.  It was nice to walk around the downtown area with my wife and check out the area.  Found a redbox and now I’m back at the boat getting ready to watch a good movie. 

Dinner and Drinks at Cassis

Day 15- By Vicki

Today was another very good day, not a good hair day, but a good day.  Like any other day, it started out with a visit from a mechanic, that is how most days either start or end, but no big deal.   My friend Peggy came down for a visit, and we had a nice day shopping and sightseeing in downtown St Pete.  Aaron went for his massage and was able to relax a bit.  For Aaron, the deep tissue massage was a true necessity.   This boat stuff is really stressing him out.



Vicki and Peggy on Day 15
 

Shortly after Peggy arrived, it rained just enough to frizz out our hair and make the walkway super slick.  Peggy took an awful fall on the Vinoy steps but shook it off and said she was thankful that they gave her a free towel to wipe herself off.   

Now something interesting about Peggy is that everywhere she goes, weird people come out of the woodwork and approach her and they do the weirdest things.  For example, the first time we went out to lunch she was eating a burger and a man stood about two feet from her face and watched her eat the entire sandwich.  She wasn't even phased.  When we went to the beach, a hairy, shirtless man insisted she climb on his back and use him as a footstool to get over the seawall to the beach. Not phased by that either.  For Peggy, it turns out, weird people find her wherever she goes.  After I was with Peggy for a few hours today, I said to her, "Where are the weirdoes?  You always attract the strangest people."  We determined that her dark sunglasses were protecting her.  After the rain, she took off her sunglasses for a while and strange people approached her from every direction.  A shop owner explained to her how his pottery is made with animal dung..  A man dressed like a pimp and doing the pimp strut flashed her a big smile and lingered by us for a while.  A completely normal looking woman asked her for two bucks.  Even a squirrel  followed her around when she took a picture under his tree.  After about ten minutes of this she put her sunglasses back on.  I think she will start wearing them a lot more.

Peggy in Downtown St Pete

We haven't had a car for two weeks, and were running out of the heavy stuff- water, soda, kitty litter,  cat food, vinegar for the toilet- so Peggy took us to Walmart to get some supplies.  We walk to Publix, which is just over a mile away, every couple of days for supplies, but I can't imagine walking back carrying a 25 pound box of kitty litter.  So, thank you, Peggy. 

We've spent quite a lot of money on repairs this past two weeks so we are trying our best to save money wherever we can.  We walked to Burrito Boarder tonight for Taco Tuesday for $1 tacos.  They have awesome tacos, so we will probably be there every Tuesday.  I highly recommended Taco Tuesday. 

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention (I try to block some of this stuff out of my head), we learned today that our favorite mechanic from Hernando Beach did some pretty shady work when he  "fixed" the air conditioning before we left.  Turns out the "new" pump Aaron was charged $300 for by this joker was used and over 20 years old. The mechanic of the day showed me the part and basically said it was junk. He's going to do his best to make it work for the moment but said it was very wrong for the Hernando Beach "mechanic" to charge $300 since a brand new pump shouldn't cost more than $330.   I could tell the part was ancient because it was that weird yellowish color that really old plastic gets when it's neglected for many, many years.  The guy from Hernando Beach also put it in ass backwards so it wasn't getting the proper air flow.  Just some of the reasons our air wasn't working.  We are waiting for some new parts to get the air fixed.   My prayers for all your boaters is that your boat never breaks down in Hernando Beach.  If you do, Call Pete from Hudson. 

Day 15- By Aaron

We are starting a new day, hoping things will look up.  As I woke up this morning, the mechanic for the air conditioner showed up right on time.  I will say, I don’t  think he’s doing anything super special, unfortunately.  I was told there is a cracked lid on the filter, and supposedly this cracked lid which I could tell somebody actually tried to fix it before and patch it will something years ago but I was told that because it’s cracked it’s sucking air into the system and causing it not to work properly.  I did ask the mechanic bluntly, “So you’re telling me, once we replace this cap, or should I say cover, that the air conditioning unit will work properly. “  He said, “Yes, it will.” 

Now we have many different people from the live aboard page on Facebook that told us to check different things and I made the mechanic check those different things.  So, thank you for your suggestions and help.  Supposedly the part will be in on Thursday.  Until then we’re still using the probably air unit I got from Home Depot. 

One good thing that this same mechanic did was that he found out that lever for the bilge pump was too low.  He took a whole two minutes to fix that and the red warning light has not come on since, just the green automatic light stays on like it’s supposed to.  So that’s a little bit of good news.  Because of that, I was able to tell the other mechanic that was going to come today that he didn’t need to come and I was able to save a few bucks. 

I discovered that the way we installed the portable air conditioner on the boat, even though it's blowing out very hard, water can pour in when it's down pouring.  It started raining today and pouring down very hard for about thirty minutes.  I sat in the boat, cringing, thinking that I should go outside and put something, even my hands over the hole so water didn't pour in and burn out the motor on what little air conditioning we had.  Luckily, nothing went wrong.  But, for some major preventative maintenance, I was lucky enough to go to Home Depot and get a dryer vent.  Our friend, Peggy, took us to Home Depot today to get a dryer vent that would normally be on the outside of your house.   I will install it tomorrow as it's not supposed to rain anymore tonight or tomorrow.  But being that the part for the air conditioner is not supposed to get here for two days, and we all know that could be longer, I don't want to take any chances. 

Now I've decided tomorrow I'm going to call the best mechanic of our journey, Pete, from Hudson, because he told me that he was going to visit friends down here in a couple of weeks.  He told me that he would be happy to try and help us while we are down here. 

On a other happy note, my wonderful wife got me the massage which was freaking awesome and helped me relax a lot today.  Then tonight, we took a walk downtown St Pete and went to a place for Taco Tuesday.  Then we came back to the boat. 

Now of course, in the back of my mind, I’m still thinking that I have to get the sensors fixed and the rubber valve for the oil before we ever move this boat again.  I know we are always on a time frame.  I try not to mention this to my wonderful wife and make her worry because I know I will get it taken care of, just like I always get everything done one way or another.  Just sometimes things are hard and sometimes they’re not.  But, I will say, my wife always finds a way to make me smile and I love her. 

Day 14- By Aaron

AM UPDATE
I was able to sleep last night.  It was cool enough that I actually slept.  I got up this morning.  The little portable air-conditioner that we got seems to be working good for the evening, but to my surprise it doesn’t work very well in the Florida days.  It got up to 86 degrees today in the boat with the AC on full blast.  I didn’t buy the cheapest one, so I thought for sure it was going to freeze us out of this small boat.

I went over to the Vinoy lobby, did some work today, made my phone calls to the mechanics.  Funny thing is I called seven different mechanics yesterday, and left messages that I needed help and it was important.  Only two called me back.  One was the mechanic that already looked at the boat and fixed the bilge pump.  So now, I have two different mechanics coming tomorrow.  One in the morning to check about the red light for the bilge pump being on, and one in the afternoon to look at the air conditioning and see why it’s not working right.   Supposedly the one that’s coming in the afternoon specializes in boat air conditioning repairs. 

Now it’s the end of the day, and I’m getting ready to go for a walk with the wife.  I know that I’ve been a little upset lately with all these problems, so what does my wife do?  She pays for and schedules me a massage for tomorrow to try and help me relax.  How wonderful is she?  Now I’m going to go take her out to dinner.   

PM UPDATE
We ended eating at the boat since the boat was so calm.  We tried a thing that she told me to buy at the store, Captain Morgan pulled pork that could be cooked in the microwave.  It was pretty good.  I had a Captain Morgan drink with the Captain Morgan sandwich.  I did insist that we end up going for a walk around town.  Because one of the things about this trip was my wife told me she wanted to go for a walk every single day, so I will not let a day pass without us taking a walk, no matter what. 

I better get to bed, as I have somebody saying they will be here early In the morning to look at the boat.  Luckily the boat is cool enough that I feel I can get some sleep even though it is still 77 degrees.  What a piece of junk this little air conditioning unit is.  I still say for the cost it should freeze us out. 

Oh, I forgot to say, during our walk tonight, I kept thinking to myself that maybe a milk crate would be good for this little air conditioning unit in case it needs to breathe through the bottom.  We went through this construction area and low and behold there was a milk crate, not in the work area but in the street, with no bum sitting on it.  So I carried it back to the boat, with Vicki's help I lifted the unit as she moved out the foot stool, which really is just a hollow storage compartment so I don't know how long it could have taken that weight anyways.  She slid that stool out, replaced it with the milk crate, and I set it back down.  I though it would be a good match and fit our needs.  Knock on wood, seems like it will work perfectly.  Now I'm off to bed, lets see what tomorrow holds.  Stay Tuned.

Day 14 - By Vicki

AM UPDATE

Looks like it will be a nice night on the boat, no east winds and no rain. We are not overheating, not stranded at sea, not sinking, and we have air conditioning. Today is a very good day!! North winds around 10 knots becoming southeast 5 to 10 knots after midnight. Seas 2 feet or less. Bay and inland waters a light chop.

Over the past two weeks a lot has gone wrong.  We have been getting a lot of support and are very thankful for that.  Every night I call my parents and give them an update.   Friends drive to the boat to help out.  Strangers have helped, asking nothing in return.  Mechanics have worked at night and on weekends for us.  There is a Facebook Group called “Live Aboard Boats” which is a group of people around the world who live on their boats.  They have provided me so much advice, support, and direction. 

I can think of only one boating adventure more exciting than mine and they made a movie out of it-  Cape Fear.  Have you ever watched Naked and Afraid?  Lucky for me, I have watched every episode, so if I had to I would know how to do everything naked with only a dull knife and some flint.  I think they should make a new reality show called Naked And Boating.  Yesterday was a pretty rough day, and Aaron wanted to tap out.  I just feel that we have been through too much to give up now.

I'm glad we are doing the blog.  It was my dad's idea.  I though it would be filled with beautiful sunsets and pictures of us doing amazing things in the city.  That's not what this blog is about though.  Regardless, the blog is therapeutic, like couples therapy.  We do our posts every night and get to know exactly what the other is thinking.  It's been quite a trip!

PM UPDATE

I went to the pool this afternoon and  swam twenty laps because I needed to burn off some energy, get a little sun, and relax.  When I went to change into my swimsuit, I found a very expensive ring by one of the sinks.  It was a very large sapphire surrounded by diamonds on a gold wrap around base.   I thought to myself some woman will be broken hearted when she finds out she lost this and immediately turned it into security.  I truly hope it finds it's way back to it's rightful finger.  I believe it was somebody's wedding ring.  I do hope this brings us at least a little bit of good Karma. 

We didn't have wifi the first couple of days we docked in St Pete.  Everyone, including the Dockmaster, thought it was broken.  Apparently the hotel has spent over $10,000 so far trying to make wifi work at the marina.  We are pretty computer savvy were determined to figure out how to get some internet.  Today I  made simple step by step directions, with screenshots, explaining to the Dockmaster how to get onto the marina's wifi.  I don't think he believed it would work.  He later thanked Aaron for what I had done.  I'm trying to pay it forward as much as I can, I've always believed in paying it forward, but this trip has made me pay even more attention to anyone who needs a helping hand.  We sure have had a lot of people help us out in the past two weeks.  I don't know what we would have done without all the kindness from friends and many strangers.

Tonight, after it cooled down some, Aaron and I went for a walk around town.  Besides the bars, everything was closed,  but I liked the peacefulness of the night.  This is really a beautiful area, and such a safe, walkable city.

Sculpture outside of the Chihuly Collection at the Morean Arts

The boat has been calm today, day and night.   I'm enjoying the gentle sway.  It looks like this weather pattern will continue for at least the next few days. 

Peaceful Night For The Boat- Beautiful View Of The City