Friday, March 29, 2013

Harbortown - at a dock

It was 45 this morning! Hoolie was cold! (he lost his winter coat)
We started out this morning at sunrise, early for us. We took Hoolie in for his morning romp and took a short cut to the beach with exposed mussels. They tend to stand with their shells pointed upward, perfect, we later learned, for penetrating an inflatable dinghy, especially if any pressure is applied (Hoolie jumps in, a passing boat tosses the dinghy onto the mussels, etc.)! I didn't notice anything at the time but when I went to secure the dinghy for the night in the marina, I found the forward chamber deflated, ugh!! Pumping it up, I then leaned against each edge and then saw the telltale bubbles streaming up on the port side from underneath. Normally it's no big thing to fix but I foolishly (didn't know any better at the time) applied anti-fouling paint to the bottom, including the inflatable part (most of the bottom is a fiberglass but the inflatable part is exposed where it is glued to the fiberglass). Once the anti-fouling paint is applied, it must be removed completely in order to do a repair - a very hard task - if doable at all. It's one of those "if only I had known". You never want put anti-fouling paint on the rubberized portion of an inflatable dinghy!! Once on it's very difficult to repair!! The adhesive won't stick to the anti-fouling paint! Oh well, it's a task for Saturday.

The marina has beautiful plantings! 
Later in the day we arrived at Harbortown in Jacksonville, a private marina that also rents out docks to transients. We've been here a couple of times before so we know the dockmaster, a very nice chap. The marina is home to a condo complex that's very well kept and Hoolie relief is just a step away off the back of the boat.

A larger view - one of several beds around the marina
There's a Fresh Market supermarket about 1/4 mile down the road and ice available next door. The docks are first rate (floating concrete) and the area is quiet. We like it here and we're due to leave Sunday morning so we're at Sadler Point Marina for our genset installation on Monday.

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