Saturday, May 21, 2022

Home at Lagrangeville, NY - Fleetwing is on the hard, long drive home - last post of the season!

 

Note the straps, they are there before the lifting straps are in place, to protect the hull

We were due to be hauled at 7:30 am but things never go as planned on the water. We came to the well store find a boat ahead of us that was to be launched. Unfortunately, it developed a water leak at the stuffing box so it sat in the slings until they figured out what to do. Meanwhile, we waited to be hauled, having a nine hour drive ahead of us. As the minutes ticked by, they gave up on trying to fix the leak and pulled the boat to one side - finally.

A water moccasin wanted to join in the fun! He was shooed away. 

The yard here is very professional. I had marked the lifting points on the boat and the yard placed short pieces of lifting straps at those locations, four in all. They only extended from the boat to the water, not underwater. The intention was to prevent the lifting straps on the travelift from marring the side of Fleetwing. It seemed to be a very good solution, I had not seen it before.

Fleetwing is airborne to it’s summer resting place

Fleetwing became airborne and it looked in good shape, no barnacles and the prop was clean. She flew to her resting spot for the summer with the travelift and it was well taken car of with supports. I plugged the power in so the dehumidifier would run over the summer to prevent mildew. It’s the only way we’ve found to prevent the affliction.

The drive home was on a Friday afternoon, into rush hour and with a severe thunderstorm warning. It took a while but we eventually got home and collapsed. Now it’s time for me to turn out the 2022 edition of ICW Cruising Guide and perhaps two other related books, we’ll see. 

It’s been an unusual spring run given the strong east winds pushing against us on our way east from Key West. Then we ran into the week of north winds in the 20 to 30 kts range where we waited at Dowry Creek Marina for a window. That finally came and we scooted north. So, mark your calendars for October 1, 2022 when our fall adventure to Key West begins. The blog will restart then, hope to see you along the way!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Thank you for updating you blog as you go along. It's been great to ride along with you. Look forward to your start next year. Have a great summer.

Bob said...

As always my morning will not be the same, until October 1st when I can check in to see the progress of you, Ann and Hoolie. Thank you for your great writing, pics and all you do for those who transit the ICW. My copy of the 2021 guide was given to someone able to use it last season. Looking forward to the 2022 guide. Have a great summer!

Jennifer Peters said...

Hi Bob, we ran into you in Titusville last fall before you and Ann went home for the holidays. You mentioned that you were looking in to getting new “canvas”. We just got an estimate to replace our dodger, bimini and connector for our 39 foot sloop- $10,000.00. Of course we were hoping it would be a bit less, I was hoping closer to $7,000.00. Wondering what you think and whether you got an estimate for your replacement.
Thanks!
Jen Peters, SV Tempo, Duxbury MA