Key Largo - water intrusion a false alarm

 

After a thorough wash down, Fleetwing is finally looking pretty good

With some trepidation I looked whether water had come in overnight when I got up this morning. It was a great relief to find no more water! Evidently, when Fleetwing was in the slings, it was tilted bow high and any water in the boat drained to the aft sections.  Once back in the water on the level, the water reversed its path and drained into the bilge. The water I saw coming into the bilge was just the residual water in the boat moving forward again once the boat was level. 

The canal is only 75 feet wide and with boats moored on both sides, it can get narrow in the middle so we call ahead and negotiate our passage. There are places to duck into along the side to allow wider boats to pass by. You just have to plan ahead.

With that bit of good news, we are once again ready to depart Saturday morning for Marathon and the next day for Key West, over a week late. I took the day to make Fleetwing presentable (top deck cleaning, dinghy wash down, new line for Hoolie, new lines for our two round fenders, refilled water tanks, laundry, odds and ends at Winn Dixie, returned the car to Enterprise - end all, a very busy day. 

The winds on Saturday are not due to top 10 kts so it should be a smooth ride west. We are looking forward to a few days without drama, we’ve had enough for the entire trip already. Time to relax and enjoy the warm weather.