Unearthing a diamond in the rough

The twin to the blue rat rod has been sitting in the woods for years now. If the license plate is any indication the last time the vehicle was registered was in 1992. With a pending sale of the property the white truck is sitting on the time to get the truck out of the woods and home is now. the plans for the white truck is to do a full restore. The truck belonged to my mom's husband's father who passed just a few years ago. It will not be a project finished any time soon but it will be a worthy venture.

So far the truck has been dug out and jacked up out of the dirt. Both rear brakes were completely seized and had to be pried apart with a crowbar. I haven't yet tested the front wheels to see if they spin. I will steal the tires and rims from the rat rod, air them up, and then I should be able to get the white truck home on the car dolly next visit.

Review: Yamaha EF2000is generator / inverter

A not so short video testing our yamaha EF2000is inverter / generator.   Pretty good info for someone looking to use a generator on their boat or trying to run a portable AC unit on their boat.

Me, my love, and a mustache

Buddy helped us bring the boat down from New York last year and now we were finally getting to go sailing on her all together.  It took too long for this trip to happen but it was worth the wait for this awesome outing.  We went out and did and overnight on the gulf that was filled with fishing, beer, music, more fishing, and more beer! Perfect!

Highs and lows, overnight on the gulf

The bottom paint was finished, "Happy" was back in the water, and the weather was warming up. (but not the water) It's time to go sailing!

One thing we have discovered is sailing is always an adventure.  It is pleasure boating for sure but with a considerable scoop of work and danger tossed in also.

We motored some and sailed some about 15 miles south of Hudson to a small island called Anclote Key.  It was getting late so we decided to go ashore, walk the dog, and watch a beautiful sunset that would have been perfect if not for the 50 other people that had been dropped off on the beach by ferry for the exact same reason,  It took us several times to get the delicate balance of anchoring scope, wind direction, and water depth right so we could get out and walk ashore in the cold water.  We ran aground once and had to gun the motor to get unstuck.  It was still a beautiful sunset.

After dark we loaded back on the boat, pulled anchor, and motored into the shallows.  It was very calm and when we tossed the anchor and line just sat there,  We went about our business of cooking and eating. It was later on in the night we started feeling an odd tugging every now and then. Not the normal jerk of the anchor line.  At first we thought we were anchored in too shallow of water.  We discovered that the anchor line was actually stuck underneath the boat somewhere.

So then I had two choices.  Dive down in the cold water and dark to try to free the line or cleat the line short, hope we stay hooked through the night with the short scope and fix it in the daylight.  So my fear of diving under the boat in the dark and cold won and we cleated the line and waited until morning.

During the night we were treated to Hercules using the bathroom on my legs, I don't know if he was scared or what but he had just went on the island hours before.  He has never acted scared on the boat. He is always calm and relaxed. Regardless I woke up in a panic thinking that it was raining and starting closing hatches in a half-asleep stupor.  Oddly enough it was sprinkling (even though the weather apps said that it wouldn't rain) but barely enough to merit closing hatches, It was then that I realized that my legs were tucked up in the v birth where they could not get rained on anyway.  Needless to say when I discovered the cause of the wetness on my legs I was not a happy guy.  Bad wiener!

In the morning we pulled the anchor up into the boat and with the rest of the line wrapped under the boat still we motored into deeper water. Following my hunch we released the centerboard line which did not free the centerboard. The line was wedged in between the trunk and the board. Finally after bouncing around in the waves for a minute the weight of the board overcame the wedge and the line was free.

Then after barely scraping over a few extremely shallow parts on the way away from the island everything was hunky dory.   It was enough adventure for one trip so we slowly tooled our way back north and back to the marina.  We would still choose the adventure over work any day.

Bad wiener!

You're my boy Blue!

I love this boat.  Amber, the kids, and myself still go out on it quite often.  Sure we have the Hunter 26 but that is kept on the gulf about an hour and a half away.  This, which you have seen in many posts before but I never did and actual 'about' post, is our 60's - 70's O'day Daysailor 17.  It is so easy and quick to hook it to the back of the truck, toss in a cooler, and put in at any of the MANY lakes around us.  And we live near Lake County so this is not a understatement. 

The Buck Board from my grandpa was my first introduction to sailing but the O'day (named "Blue" from the Will Ferrell Movie 'Old School' where he says "You're my boy Blue!" in classic Will Ferrell fashion) introduced me to the greater possibilities of sailing.  We could stay out all day, bring food, anchor and swim.  It was a new world coming from the previous background of fishing boats which you don't clamor in and out of jon and bass boats very much.

We were very lucky to have gotten the boat in perfect working order with basically new sails.  The only change I made was to swap the trailer the boat came on with a bigger one that I put all fresh bunks, bunk hardware, carpeting, rollers, winch, and electrical. In the future we will split the hull and redo the fiberglass that is getting weak where you stand and redo the rub rail all the way around.

Every time we take out Blue we say how much we love the boat and we've decided that regardless of what other boats we have we can never get rid of Blue because "You're my boy Blue!"

Docked at Eaton's Beach on Lake Weir

This picture is from years ago. Notice the port side line (red) is pulled too tight.  This is a mistake I made when I first started sailing "Blue."  The Port line should be loose and the starboard line tight to create optimal sail shape.  I can admit when I'm wrong!

She lost a tooth!

Sprint car racing in Ocala, FL

Took the kids to Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, FL to watch some sprint car and late model dirt oval action!  It was pretty sweet and is now on the list of motorsports I have to try.

Rebecca Paugh #23 let Aaliah sit in the driver seat of her race car!  Too Cool!

Gulf Sailing for the adventurous and unprepared

It was pretty cold when we went out sailing one leisurely morning in mid January 2015.  We didn't really care about the cold because we had only intended to go out for the day and then return to dock.  Of course once we were out we decided we could stay the night anchored out and then return to dock in the morning and still make it to work.

As the afternoon progressed the temperature and weather got worse and worse.  We had to pull in at New Port Richey and buy warm clothes and a blanket for the night.  By the time we headed back out to the gulf we didn't have long before dark.  We attempted to get as far north in a storm that moved in on us so we would be as close as possible to the marina in the morning.  

We struggled and fought against the storm while trying to cook dinner, trying to anchor, trying to stay dry, trying to stay warm, and trying to sleep with the boat banging up and down in the waves.  Ultimately we survived the night and woke up to a foggy morning that soon dissipated and revealed an absolutely gorgeous day of the perfect temperature.  

While trying to pull up the anchor line I noticed the line getting heavier and heavier as I pulled in.  Soon I was to the point of near exhaustion as I pulled up our anchor that was heavily wrapped in an abandoned crab pot line.  I pulled out my Benchmade and almost cut the line free before second guessing myself and unwrapping the line from the anchor tines.  The large bones inside, build up on the pot, and lack of buoys were a pretty good indication that the line was abandoned,

After crawling back into the boat and recovering we motored back to the marina and (gasp) went to work.  I would totally rather be out braving the elements than grinding away at work.  As Amber and I tell each other "any day on the water is a good day."     :)