Fifth Port Day in Apalachicola - Waiting for Weather Window

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 208 - October 25, 2017

Today was the day we were supposed to get our new 11 pitch prop and the Stingray3 fin installed on the Honda BF150 and the trim tabs repaired. Marc and some of his guys came down to the boat ramp at 9:00 a.m., but not to pull us out! It looked to us like he unloaded a Rosborough 246 (which by the way, is a VERY nice boat) and then loaded it on to different trailer.  He said he had some errands to run, and it would be about 45 minutes, so we had breakfast and I made a quick run on the golf cart back to the Piggly Wiggly. Then we got a call from Marc that they would be back after his guys had lunch. So we saw that today would not be the day we moved to Dog Island to get ready for a Thursday crossing! Looking at everything, Thursday was the day with the good weather window, and we are going to miss it.

We finally got pulled some time between 1:00 and 1:30 p.m. Marc's helper, Spencer, drove Daydream for power loading, and I was ballast to keep her level side to side! He had a bit of trouble, but after a couple of attempts Daydream was on the trailer and strapped down, and  Marc towed her the seven miles to Wefings Marine in Eastpoint.  We arrived at Wefings about 2:00 p.m.  Daydream was pulled inside the covered shop, and we got our folding chairs out to wait!

Spencer got right down to fixing the trim tabs, and somebody else pressure washed the bottom.  He quickly found that the trim tab fuse was blown. He replace the fuse and showed me where it was located, since I had previously looked for it and couldn't find it.  With the new fuse, the tabs were once again operable, but the position indicator light was still blinking. He did some research and isolated this to the position sensor in one of the trim tabs. Since we never look at the position indicator anyway (it is mounted so low that you basically have to get down on your knees on the floor to see it), and we operate the tabs by the way the bow of the boat responds, we are okay with not putting in a new sensor, at least for the time being.

Then Spencer installed the Stingray3 fin, which is pretty slick, since it does not require drilling holes in the cavitation plate. It is held in place by what Spencer called the lower unit torque tab. He had to make a minor modification to the fin with a Dremel tool and use a slightly longer bolt to replace the torque tab, but the fin is solidly in place. Now all we needed was the new prop.

When the FedEx delivery came, our new prop was not there.  Tracking showed it had left Memphis and was "out for delivery." That means it will arrive some time tomorrow, and FedEx only guarantees that it will be before 4:30 p.m. Ron, the GM, thinks it will probably be here in the morning, but maybe not.  They said they could come to the marina to put the prop on tomorrow, but we decided to spend the night on the boat in the shop so they can put the prop on here as soon as it arrives, and hopefully, we can get out on the water to test whether or not we can plane.

New Stingray3 fin, old 15 pitch prop!

The problem all this presents is that having missed the Thursday weather window, we now have the quandary of our next weather window for the crossing.  Marc thought Friday looked okay, but it looked pretty sketchy to us on SailFlow and Marine Weather.  Saturday and Sunday were definitely bad days by all accounts, with high wind, high waves and a short period between waves. Ideally, we want less than two foot waves, wind less than 15 knots from the right direction, and a period between waves at least twice the wave height.  Patty thought Monday looked possible. The worst thing was that the sources we consulted were sometimes conflicting, with one saying high wind and another saying small waves, and vice versa, for the same day!

So I emailed Marv, who publishes Marv's Weather Service, which Marv does strictly as a public service. His reports had been spot on during Hurricane Nate. He responded that our weather window, as he saw it right now, was Tuesday, and that could change between now and then. So, for now, Tuesday it is, and as prudent mariners who do not wish to get our fillings knocked out, we will sit here Thursday through Monday. It is a good thing we love oysters!