Fleetwing for Sale

 

Fleetwing at anchor showing the full enclosure

After 16 wonderful years cruising the ICW,, Ann and I have decided it’s time for a change. We’ll be selling Fleetwing — our trusted Beneteau 423 that has carried us safely from Norfolk to Key West and back all these years. 

At 82, we’re looking forward to spending more time with our growing family. Our grandkids — who once spent summers aboard Fleetwing which I’ve shared over the years in this blog — are now young adults, starting careers and families of their own. Our oldest grandson, Matthew, is now married, and we want to be there for all those milestones: first jobs, weddings, and everything in between.

Of course, it’s bittersweet. Fleetwing has been part of the family, and many of you have followed her tracks for years. But we’re comforted knowing her next owner will gain a proven ICW cruiser, fully equipped for comfortable passages inside or offshore.

You can find full details about Fleetwing here:

https://bobicw.blogspot.com/p/fleetwing-for-sale.html

The Bob423 tracks will continue to be updated as needed with inputs from my Bob423 Surveyors. The ICW Cruising Guide will coroner to be updated every July 15th. 

For now, I’m not going anywhere — just shifting some of my focus to family while keeping one hand on the helm of this great community. I’ve shared many adventures with this group over the years and I may, at times, share more on our new adventures, closer with family.

Bob423

We Move Back to Fleetwing - but some boats had moved to shore

 It was good to be home again. Fleetwing suffered no damage and we quickly put the dodge back up but the bimini had a problem with the aft zipper. The thread exposed to UV on top of the bimini gave way. The 20 years of UV light was too much to ask of the sewing thread. The bimini fabric was fine, Sunbrella is tough stuff! Terri, our friend from Jacksonville offer to do the sewing with her professional machine and after a few tries ourselves, we realized it was beyond our capabilities - so we took Terri up on her generous offer. We’ll travel to Jacksonville where she lives and for the repair. 

After every storm, it seems we get boats that come ashore. In all the cases I’ve seen, it’s been due to lines tied to the mooring that parted. The mooring itself still sits out in the mooring field, lonely now. Those that moor never seem to learn that a Cat 1 hurricane requires extraordinary preparation in ensuring lines are double and triple tied with fresh line. 

First of all, I would never leave a boat out on any mooring in Cat 1 conditions. Even if your lines were enough for the conditions (doubled and tripled), the problem is in those around you. If a boat breaks free and starts drifting down the mooring field, you have no chance. The boat gathers other boats and you have a floatilla coming at you. This scenario happened at the Cat 4 hurricane that hit Marathon. Some boaters had prepared perfectly - but they were defeated by those that did not - and involuntarily joined the floatilla flushing out all the boats as it drifted through the mooring field. 

We saw about a half dozen boats come to land during Milton. We saw none still attached to a mooring ball. Their lines had parted, the mooring ball was still anchored firmly. In talking to the marina office, I learned that the owner of each boat out in the mooring field was contacted and offered an inspection with lines being added or replaced, for a fee of course - no free work. They all to a captain, passed on the offer. Now they have to go through insurance claims and arrangements for salvaging their boats. Experience is the only teacher - and sometimes that doesn’t even work. 

This post is the last in the series. I covered Milton and hopefully, there are no more hurricanes but then it’s still October and not even halfway through - but we can hope. 

A Wild Night

 It was eerily quiet as the eye passed over us at 4:00 am. Half an hour later, the north winds off the back of the hurricane started. They were the strongest winds of the night, clocked at 103 mph by one nearby weather station. I had my wind instruments going on Fleetwing which included recording the highest wind gust at 67 mph in the marina! 

Later that morning we went to the marina to see how Fleetwing fared. No damage was seen! There was some damage to the pier with shards of wood on Fleetwing's deck but no damage to the boat. That must have been some wind to push Fleetwing into the pier so hard.

It’s still raining with north winds over 25 kts so we’ll stay on land until Friday late morning and then it’s moving everything back to Fleetwing. The Bimini needs to be resown before putting it back up, another chore. 

All in all, I think we came through a Cat 1 hurricane pretty well. Florida utilities, at least in the cities, are built well. We never lost power and on our drive to the marina today, only three stop lights were not working. All businesses are still closed but will reopen Friday. 

Sitting Milton out in a motel

Hurricane Milton was not to be messed with so we decided to spend the next two days ashore. Ann had the idea to cook a two day supply of chicken casserole since we had a refrigerator and microwave in the motel room. Any meal at a restaurant, even if it was open (most were closed) would not be a gourmet experience - much less with the joy of standing in line for service with everyone else displaced by Milton. 

The boat prep included removing all canvass which we did yesterday. This morning it was closing all seacocks and adding more lines (you can never have too many lines in a hurricane). The sailor's question is,”Is that extra line I have on board of better use in a locker or tied to a cleat leading ashore?” A line in a locker never saved a boat. Lines seldom break, when they fail it’s from chafing so you have to watch that they do not rub against anything when they stretch from a gust of wind.

Our room was ready early so we moved in by 10:00 am as you can see above. The motel is supposed to supply a free breakfast but the staff needed to be with their family as the eye goes over us Thursday, we will be here all until Friday morning.

The rest of today was spent watching Milton approach and the more than 50 tornado warnings associated with the storm even though it hadn’t even come ashore yet.  The photo is from this afternoon. The red lines circle the tornado warning areas. The red arrow points at Titusville. There were lots of videos of tornadoes on TV today, not encouraging for us with Fleetwing docked nearby, hoping they did not approach Titusville - so far, so good. 

So we’re snug, protected in a motel room, and watching much, too much TV about Milton. 

 

 

We have a blocker to the east. A 72 ft powerboat pulled in today and we’re grateful since they will provide some protection from wave action from a critical direction. I found out later that the captain is an avid user of Bob423 tracks, “Saved my bacon many times!” 

Today was more of getting ready. Our monumental task today was taking down the dodger and Bimini which are now safely stored in the aft cabin. The bimini needs some work. It’s not torn but rather the thread deteriorated over the years in places. It needs to be resewed - a task for when we return. 

We also had a new aft air conditioner installed so any prospective crew can cruise in comfort. The AC unit will both cool and heat, depending on the setting desired. In the last five years, we’ve replaced two AC units, the hot water heater, the main cabin fresh water pump, two shower sump pumps, two shower heads, the galley faucet, new galley lights, new main cabin lights, head hoses replaced (not a nice task), four head manual pumps replaced, along with the usual oil, fuel, and filter changes. A boat needs care. 

I already had two lines on all cleats but why not put on a few more? Does a line do better duty in the locker or outside helping to keep the boat away from hard things. With that, I hauled out more lines and the worst wind direction now has four lines to help keep Fleetwing off the pilings. 

On Wednesday we will move to the local BestWestern Motel for two days. Hopefully, all our preparations will be good enough for leave Fleetwing unblemished. 

Take down all canvas?

 

The best advice is to remove everything off the boat that could catch the wind. The decision point on just how much to remove will be Wednesday morning. We have the dodger and bimini to consider, both come down easily but are a bear to put back up. 

Meanwhile, Milton is now a Cat 5 hurricane with 180 mph winds but it’s supposed to weaken as it approaches Tampa. The worst cast scenario is for Milton to track slightly to the north of Tampa so the anti clockwise winds would push water into Tampa Bay. With the present projections, that’s the path. 

For us, it still looks like the eye will pass over us. A better case would be for the eye to pass to the north so we would get the wind off land, resulting in less wave action. In any case, we’ll be in a motel to see how things turn out. Winds are projected to be “only” 125 mph when it comes ashore at Tampa. 

In the Eye of the Storm - Titusville at a dock

 

It looks like Hurricane Milton has us in its bullseye. It’s predicted to be a Cat 3 at landfall near Tampa and still a Cat 1 when it reaches us on the east coast.Milton will be our 5th hurricane that we’ve been through or near while and it will be our second passage of the eye over us if Milton maintains its projected track.

We decided to not experience the hurricane on the boat, not too comfortable, so we have a room for two nights on Wednesday and Thursday when it’s due at Titusville. We first tried Hampton Inn but found that they tripled their prices just for those two nights!! Talk about price gouging! 

The docks here are massive and we will be tied off so we won’t come into contact with anything fixed. We should be okay. We’re on A dock which is dominated by sailboats. 

I will keep the wind speed instrument turned on for the duration so I’ll have a record of the maximum wind speed. Meanwhile, we’re watching the storm as it barrels towards us!

Titusville - Last post in 2023

Taco Grouper - very  good 

We did the last of the packing this afternoon and we’ll be leaving early Thursday for Lagrangeville, NY. I spent most of the afternoon installing an automatic dewatering pump in the dinghy (since we leave it in the water - it tends to fill up from rains). 

We said goodby to Titusville with a dinner at Pier 220 Seafood and Grill. It’s a nice place with a view of the ICW although tonight it was very stormy, no boats were passing by. It’s popular with the locals and it has live music on Thursday through Sunday night. 

This is the last post of 2023 as we leave Fleetwing to tend to itself while we’re away. We will return the first or second week of January but I may not restart the blog until we head north again on April 15th, we’ll see. Until then, stay safe!  We miss Hoolie…

Titusville - ICW Cruising Guide Facebook work

 

This is a typical update. The blue dotted line is the new track, the red is the old track.

I review all new USACE surveys on a regular basis to see if there’s new shoaling that’s endangering the Bob423 track. In looking at the area between Beaufort, NC and Southport, I found several areas of concern so I spent the afternoon revising the Bob423 track for that part of the ICW. 

Another example, this one of Browns Inlet. A shoal is working its way out from G61A. Best to think ahead and avoid.

After revision, then I post it to the download site and upload to my Bob423 Aqua Map account which triggers automatic updates to those subscribed to Bob423 syncing in Aqua Map. It’s an efficient way to keep up to date once you set syncing up the first time. Everything after that is fully automatic. 

I’ve got the car half loaded for our trip north and we’ll pay a visit to a local restaurant for dinner to celebrate our departure and the start of the holidays. Then, it’s hit the road time Thursday morning. I figure I don’t need any of my summer wear for my northern visit so we’re packing light for the trip. We, sadly, have a lot more room now without Hoolie. 

Titusville - Workshop at Titusville

 

It’s handy having access to a workshop. A radial saw is available too. 

Titusville Marina has a workshop available for use by transients. You can bring your own tools but there’s more available. If you schedule in advance so a dockhand is present, you have the use of a radial saw and other major equipment. It’s handy for work projects on your boat. There’s no charge for the use of the tool room. 

Just like any house, boats are decorated too for the holidays, in this case for two at the same time. 

The marina is home to many liveaboards and they decorate their boats as they would their house (if they had one). When Halloween rolls around, the decorations come out. Thanksgiving is honored too and although it’s early, Christmas will be well represented when that time comes. For many of the boaters here, they’ve sold their house and their boat is their residence - a moveable residence, which is the nice part. 

Our car is now ready to travel. It received a multi-point inspection and an oil change so it’s all ready to go. We’ll start packing tomorrow and load the car Wednesday. Our time here is getting short.

Titusville - A park nearby

I probably won’t be taking up this sport - at least not yet…

 The marina benefits from having a nearby dog park, skateboard park, play area for kids, and paths for running in the morning for us. We get out around 7:30 to 8:00 for our exercise during the week and perhaps in the afternoon, get out for another walk. It’s something that’s easy to do in the warm, Florida weather. 

For the kids. You don’t see wooden playgrounds anymore

However, when we go north, we find that our tolerance for cold weather has been comprised. If it’s less than 70, it feels a little chilly (where’s that sweatshirt?) We used to laugh at our southern friends when they came north in the winter or fall. We would out in tee shirts in any weather above 50 and they would be wearing heavy jackets. Now we’re in the same bucket - or rather will be when we get back to Lagrangeville, oh well. 

Next week will be a short week, just three days before leaving for home. We have friends on the dock that’s will look out for Fleetwing while we’re gone, good to have such friends!

Titusville - Weekends are for lazing around

We have roaming flocks of ibis harvesting the grass

 There are boat projects to do but as we approach our departure date for returning north to New York, I find a lack of enthusiasm for starting any new ones. Since we’re spending the winter in Titusville, there’s no trip south to Key West - I have all the time in the world to get things done for the trip up the ICW in the spring to Beaufort, NC. That knowledge alone contributes to massive procrastination. 

Titusville Marina has a convenient dinghy dock by the office with showers and laundry nearby

Although we often tour through Black Point drive, there’s a goodly amount of bird watching to be done right in the marina and next door in the nature park. We have both manatees and dolphins swimming around as well as a large collection of birds that have no problem finding sustenance.

As if that was not enough, we have Space X launches too, usually one a week but sometimes twice a week. We walk down to the end of the dock and watch the rocket rise above the bridge in the distance. It’s a pretty sight at night. For last night’s launch, the rocket returned to the Kennedy Space Center and made a safe landing. It is turning into a very routine procedure now, who would have thought? 

Titusville - All electric boat

 

I don’t think it can run continuously on solar power but if it charges during the week, perhaps on weekends.

The way things are going with inflation, we all may be headed to either sailing a lot more than we’ve done in the past or switching our motive power to solar. I’ve seen several boats along the way going south outfitted with solar arrays and an electric motor but they are usually not very big. 

There’s one in our marina that, I guess, sits in a slip during the week gathering in the sun’s rays for use on the weekends. I’ve haven’t seen it out yet, perhaps it’s a summer use boat. For a place like Florida, it makes a lot of sense. 

Always the sunset,,, 

Meanwhile, we did our last provisioning, this time a Winn Dixie again. He find it to be a better store for fresh produce than Publix which surprised us. The prices are better too. The phenomenal weather continues, we’re spoiled not only for waters to come in New York but also for just the usual Florida weather. We haven’t had rain for weeks but I won’t complain.  

Titusville - Beaudtiful days

 

Right next door is the dog park - where Hoolie loved to run. This is along the way. 

Now that we’re getting close to our departure date, it’s hard to stay focused on getting boat chores done. We did manage to get some essentials at Winn Dixie (love that name!) but that was about it. After working 38 years for IBM, I still have the mentality of “What did you accomplish today?” The answer today was, “Nothing” which strangely is bothersome. I wonder if everyone has that problem? (Or, anyone else?)

I’m a sucker for a sunset

The weather has been out of a travel brochure for Florida - winds less than 10 kts, highs around 80, full sunshine, no rain since we arrived 11/20 - just perfect days. Not that I’m complaining, mind you, but we’ll see a different weather report up north for sure. 

We sit on the back of the boat with our wine, watching the sunset so I keep taking photos of the event. Tonight, we’re scheduled to see a Space X launch, around 8:30 pm. The nighttime launches are the best, spectacular. I’ll see if can capture some worthwhile pictures. 

Titusville - New batteries installed

 

The evere changing light… 

The downside of 4D batteries is the weight, over 120 lbs. Yesterday it took two strong types to get them off the boat, very awkward. Today, putting two back on the boat was easier - gravity being what it is - al downhill. 

I used No-Ox on all the connections to prevent corrosion. It coats the terminals to keep out corrosive fumes. You can’t seem to buy it in small batches. The tube I have will last years. I’ll do a final test tomorrow morning and then throw the switch and stand back (only kidding). 

We are doing the last of the boat chores before leaving next Thursday for New York for the holidays. It seems strange making the trip without Hoolie. It’s been dead still here for the past four days with winds less than 10 kts. We’ve enjoyed the view off the back of the boat and the perfect weather with temps in the high 70s and low 80s. It’s going to be a shock going north.

Titusville - 4D battery weigh a lot!

 

Wood Stork - there’s a flock of them that hang around the marina.

I have three 4D batteries and when it comes time to replace them, it’s a big deal. They have to be hoisted up the companionway, across the cockpit, and down the side of the boat to the fixed dock. It’s a task for two people with strong backs. Each battery weighs about 130 lbs. 

Well, today I had help and the three of us horsed the batteries ashore. Now I have to travel about an hour to the nearest Interstate store that has them in stock. They are back ordered at most places. The 4D’s cost $340 each. If you wanted absorbed glass matt (AGM), then the price rose to $995 each, ouch. Interestingly, Walmart sells AGMs made in China but I wasn’t ready to try them out yet, even through the price was only $345 each for AGMs in the 4D size. 

We’ll drive to the Interstate store to pick them up on Wednesday and then it’s another trial in getting them loaded on the boat, into the cockpit, down the stairs, and into the engine compartment. I’ll be asking for help again tomorrow. Hopefully, they will last at least three years, the same as the last ones. 

Titusville - Battery problems

 

After the time change, sunsets come during wine time

I have three 4D Interstate deep cycle batteries on Fleetwing. They tend to last about three years before they start to fail. It seems a little short but they’re used eight months of the year, every day. I know when one goes because it starts to vent a lot and never reduces in the charge current, reaching 40 amp even though they were fully charged. 

Now I have to decide between flooded lead acid or AGM. The Lithium batteries look attractive but they are out of sight in price. The Interstate 4D lead acid were on back order, over a month wait time if then. Of course, everything is getting much more expensive - don’t we all know that!

I get the estimates on battery prices Tuesday for both the lead acid and AGM. I’ll relay what I find out here. One thing about being on a boat, there’s never a lack of things that need doing - and spending money on. One of these days, I’ll do the last boat chore and then I’ll rest…..

Titusville - Being a Sunday Driver to Black Point

There’s always room for an alligator photo (Merritt Island)

 We had to get “out of the house” today so we headed for Black Point drive in Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge. I wanted to get a more detailed map than I had but found the Visitor Center was closed! It’s not open on Sundays. It would seem that Sundays would be prime time for visitors but the park thinks otherwise I guess. 

Blue Heron at Black Point - he poised for us, didn’t move a muscle

Apple Maps now shows the off road trails through the park so we just followed that Apple Play display. The dates for the birds to arrive here is advertised to be from November 1st to April 30th so we thought, now’s the time. However, not many have arrived yet. Perhaps it’s due to the unseasonably warm weather up north? (except for this past weekend). We did see a few more than the last time we drove through but nothing like the peak times in years past. 

The winds have died and it’s dead still here tonight. I guess the winds have gotten to wherever they were headed and they’re happy now - for a while.

Titusville - Hoolie crosses the Rainbow bridge

 

The day we brought Hoolie home

It is a very sad day on Fleetwing. Our Brittany of 14 years passed over the Rainbow bridge this afternoon.  He’s been with us on all our boat adventures, to Maine, to Long Island Sound, to Block Island, and every year down the ICW. He was a dear member of our boat family and he will be missed. 

As we will remember Hoolie forever, “Throw the ball already!”

He was ever enthusiastic and always ready to chase a ball. He would snuggle up to Ann when I left in the morning for a run to keep her warm. He kept us company on Fleetwing and guarded the boat from being boarded by dolphins and manatees. He regarded the dinghy as his personal transportation and you could not be seen preparing it for launch without his eager attention, and getting in the way. 

He was spry and full of pep until about 6 months ago when he started to go downhill with problems in his hips. He could no longer chase a ball or negotiate the stairs in our house or on the boat or do other dog things. He had a good life for 13 years. Hoolie, we will miss you dearly. We’ll call for you when we cross over the Rainbow bridge ourselves. 

Titusville - Books-A-Million and a beautiful bridge

 

On our way back, we drove alongside the Kennedy Space Center. Blue Origin has
 a huge complex and yet they are far behind Space X in launch capability. 

One thing about the demise of bookstores is that the extensive magazine racks went with them. There are mags at supermarkets and a few other places but nothing beats the selection at Barns and Nobel or Books-A-Million. Ann was in the mood for holiday and art magazines so we headed south to the nearest bookstore, Books-A-Million. The selection was huge. 

I really have no need of a bookstore since I get all my titles loaded to my Kindle from Amazon. It’s harder to get a wide selection though for magazines although I do subscribe to several digital versions. But if you’re not sure what you’re looking for (as Ann was), then an old-fashioned book rack is hard to beat. Ann walked away with about 1/2 dozen mags. 

The Titusville to Merritt Island bridge passes the first prerequisite, it’s 65 feet high! 

The first prerequisite for judging a bridge “beautiful” on our boat is that it must be at least 65 feet high! After passing that requirement, its aesthetics can be contemplated. One such bridge is pictured that has more than just slabs of concrete between pillars. It’s by the restaurant we ate at last night, the bridge from Titusville to Merritt Island.