Quick Trip to Green Cove Springs

Well it's Wednesday January 1st 2014 and we are catching an early flight to Green Cove Springs to spend 5 days on Quiet Company. Delta to Atlanta then south to Jacksonville, jump in a rental car and head further south. We now know the drill. We closed on the boat purchase Dec 5th and this is our first opportunity to go south and check out what we bought. Our purchased included all the equipment that was on the boat that was needed to "operate the boat". The previous owner was a Good Captain, organized and willing to acquire the equipment and spare parts that one would want if they where going to sail away for months at a time to a location that is remote (no marine store next door). We hoped the needed equipment was left behind and we were no disappointed! The previous owner was a good steward and we plan to continue the same due diligence.

Like before the first day was full of rain..... But for us it was OK. The boat has a tremendous amount of storage (full of stuff). We had no problem utilizing the available time sorting through what was there and and not, as well as learning where everything is located. 

But we did get away from the dock on Friday on our first "solo" piloting the boat on our own and it was a dream! The boat just glides through the water and the 70,000 pounds of displacement provides a smooth confident ride.   The boat was full of fuel 1300 gallons of diesel and we filled the water tank to 3/4 full (300 gallons) of water. 

As we pilot the boat its hard to believe it now belongs to us!

The Admiral is bundled and cozy in the Pilothouse, keeping an eye on our course and training a new Captain.......  

Viv has the Galley ready to go!

W

The wind was blowing south but the autopilot had no problem steering a straight path.

We are secure on the hook (anchor) and consider day three a success...

On day four, again checking out one of the more that 105 storage compartments I discovered a section of the bottom that was cut out to accommodate the rudder assembly. Wow, the hull fiberglass thickness exceeds one inch of woven fiberglass. This small piece of the bottom my thumb is on had to weigh 10 pounds! In the future, we will at sometime bump the bottom of the boat....the thickness of the bottom (count the layers of fiberglass) provides so much piece of mind that this one discovery (and confirmation on the structural integrity of the boat) made my trip, and helped to validate that, the extra money we had to spend to acquire at Great Harbour trawler, was money well spent!!

 The top piece of material is a piece of the Nida Core Deck that was so light but so strong that it too was impressive. The use of this honeycomb core is just awesome (strong, light, and buoyant) and the result is decks that don't flex as you walk, strength and lightweight produced a boat that is not top heavy and is unsinkable boat.

We did have one period that was a challenge. We departed our anchorage to cruise upstream to practice docking at the Corky Bells Gators Landing dock. As I approached the dock I was practicing a sideways maneuver and the rudder would not return from full lock to starboard. Now this is an event that gets our heart beating fast as you realize you now have limited control and you are now drifting downstream. Well, we considered dropping the anchor but we were in the navigation channel so that was a last resort. Instead, I used the bow thruster with forward patient nudging forward and was able to make it over to the dock and tie off. With the wheel stuck to the right we call Ken Fickett (the boats builder) and after and hour of trying this and that we got the hydraulics UN stuck! We are confident we will figure out what caused the problem.....

So the mission south was a success. We developed our punch list of item we want to address before the boat heads for Indiana. We went from 70 degrees in Florida to -6 degrees (windchill -20) in Indiana upon arriving home. With my truck frozen (the doors frozen shut) we had to rent a car to get home. But three days later temperatures did edge above freezing and we were able to recover my truck. 

Now we are planning our next trip south. Hopefully we will soon leave the dock and start the 2000 mile journey back to Indiana!