We have Ice

Ever since we bought the boat we have had a refrigerator that has worked flawlessly.  It was installed by the previous owner to replace an engine driven cold plate.  The other hull has a large top loading engine driven cold plate box that has never worked and has forever been on the project list.  This box was not insulated very well and there was no way to have it be an efficient freezer.  The plan for this thing had changed multiple times over the years. Initially I was going to put in a new compressor and insulate it with vacuum panels but they are not being made anymore and would cost about $5000 for everything.


We've had a little 12/110 volt electric cooler that has been used to cool beer at the shore since you can crank it down real cold.  It has also worked flawlessly.  The same company makes a drop in version of this electric cooler.  So, for the past week I have been preparing, insulating, and installing this thing.  I added alot of blue foam insulation around it to increase the efficiency.  2 days ago we fired it up, it took 30 minutes to go from 80 degrees to freezing.  We put the ice trays in and voilà, we have ice.  Had an ice cube inauguration party last night over at our neighbors, Patrick and Kirsti.  Rum and Cokes with our own ice cubes.

Those vertical ice cube trays are the only way to go on a boat.  Flat trays and a rocking boat don't go well together.

Hurricane Sandy - Long Beach Island

We're getting a little tired of Hurricanes.

Hurricane Sandy hit Long Beach Island at 8PM Monday October 29th.

The Army Corp of Engineers had a beach/dune replenishment project completed for Harvey Cedars 3 years ago which initially gave us about 100 yards of sand between the oceanfront houses and the ocean.  Some of that had washed away over the past 2 years but without that sand, most of the north end of LBI would be doing demolition/reconstruction instead of just cleanup and landscaping mode.

Our house on the left

Our Front Yard

Sandy hit during a full moon and had 2 high tides to remove the entire beach and dune.  Waves were breaking over the dune, running down the street and in to the bay which was already at record flood tide levels.



So far, nobody is allowed back on the island but from initial photos, our house ended up with alot of sand everywhere and probably some water under the doors but it could have been much worse.  We are still in the boatyard and will go home earlier at Christmas to work on the damage stuff instead of cutting time out now. 

Hurricane Sandy seems to have been appropriately named.

East side of my Mom's house

The main road of the island

Here's a video taken just before the final high tide.  The waves are coming over the dune and down the street.  It's a little dark because it was taken with a phone

 Photos Courtesy of Terry Deakyne

These are not pictures of our house but are from houses in the area which show the damage that we potentially could have had:

Photos courtesy of Paul Rice

Halloween In Mexico.
Pirates came to visit.

Sunday night bonfire planned by "Three Hour Tour"

We also had a "weenie roast" and roasted marshmallows. Any excuse to have a get together.

Date Night in Mexico

It is amazing how long things take to do here.  Work on a boat always takes twice as long as you plan but here in Mexico, with the hot sun and lack of proper equipment, it is probably triple.  Yesterday it took 4 hours to overhaul the traveler car.  I have been buffing the hulls.  It is taking 1 day per 1 side of 1 hull.  A 4 day project just to get her compounded and polished.

Usually boatyard drinking starts around 3PM but we bowed out from the Friday Happy Hour to go grocery shopping and go out to dinner. 

We're back onboard Tortuguita

Spent our first day cleaning dirt and dust from everywhere.
Laced the trampolines back on and equalized the batteries after 5 months of non-use.
Went to town for groceries and a $2.50 haircut.

Today we start polishing stainless and buffing the hulls.
It gets hot mid-day so 4-5 hours of work is all we can do.

We're running A/C at night so sleeping has been great.
Cheers, Dave and Booker

Guaymas

We arrived at the boatyard in Guaymas yesterday.  We had to spend a day in Phoenix because of full flights, but our friends from Nicaragua, Clemens and Kerstin, who are driving across the US just happened to be passing through Phoenix so we got together for lunch and they headed off to see the Grand Canyon.

We were surprised that the boat was not a filthy mess.  Yes it was dirty but we never have returned to the boat after a prolonged absence to find it clean.

The temperature is cooling down to the mid-80's and there is a big migration of cruisers returning to their boats this week.  We had a nice get together last night with other boaters.

It's back to work today though.  Cheers.

We will be returning to Tortuguita around October 12th and hope to accomplish all out of water projects in 2 weeks. Will then head north in the Sea of Cortez. Will start updating the blog from Mexico. Cheers, Dave and Booker