Boat Notes 9/11 through 9/14

These are notes for time spent periodically at the boat on Thursday September 11th to Sunday September 14th. This was a weekend where Melissa was visiting and I spent the night on the boat on Thursday by myself. Then on Friday got up in the morning and went to the airport to pick her up and came back to the boat to hang out. From there we checked into a hotel to stay the night on the 12th and the 13th. I took her to the airport on the 14th and headed back to the boat for awhile. I then headed back home the night of the 14th. The following are the notes from that period.

Sidenote regarding the notes from last visit, the spider spray didn’t seem to do much. Or maybe it did and it is just that bad.

Thursday September 11th 2025

After arriving and on-loading stuff for the boat and to stay the night I performed the new “ritualistic” process of wiping down the inside of the boat to address the spiderwebs. I then made a futile attempt to sweep down the outside of the boat to address the webs. The boat needs a serious wash down and I just am not able to get the time to it. Once everything was onboard and the required wipe down was completed, went to the Watermark Restaurant for dinner. I came back and of the little time left I pulled back the headboard and located both the trim tab control box and reservoir, but also the steering hydraulic lower controls and bleeders.

Was also able to finally get a working bulb into the stove overhead and replaced the bulbs in the engine room. All bulbs are LED except for the Anchor light which still needs to be tested / Inspected.

Friday September 12th 2025

Got up in the morning and was able to make breakfast on the boat. Was caught up with a bunch of work stuff so wasn’t able to get any work done before having to go pick up Melissa.

Left to go to the airport and pick up Melissa (roughly 45 minutes / 30 minutes if there was no traffic) and then came back. We spend the afternoon hanging out on the boat. I tried to not spend too much time cleaning up spiders while we hung out. Did see a strange bird and took pictures of it.

After around 4pm we left and checked into the hotel. From there we went to dinner. Saturday was spent at the room and eventually dinner and a concert.

Sunday September 14th 2025

Checked out of the hotel and went to brunch. From brunch we went back to the boat and hung out. Again, quick web wipe down inside, quick sweep outside. Hung out in the upper helm and that’s when I noticed the tag on the Bimini Top

After hanging out for a bit it was time to take Melissa back to the Airport. After returning from the airport I took the dinghy out for a maiden voyage (at least for me). Mostly to test out the electric motor and set up.

But also test my dinghy launch and recovery process and get a feel for how it runs, and how long. Took off at around 6pm and ran it till around 8pm and it looks like I used about 75% of the battery. So that worked out well.

While I was out I was also able to get a better picture of the weird bird

Come to find out (using google image search) this is a “Double-crested Cormorant”. A matte-black fishing bird with yellow-orange facial skin. Commonly found around fresh and salt water locations across North America. Yet, as far as I can remember, it is the first time seeing one.

While I had the Dinghy out, I was able to take a picture of the back of the boat from the water

Mine is the motor yacht on the right

Once I got back to the boat, I removed the motor and battery, secured the dinghy and reviewed other work that could be done. But with a potential storm rolling in and running out of daylight, I decided to head home. I took a picture of the magnets on the forward hatch that I have been trying to get a screen solution working for. (I manufactured a screen but come to find out that the screen frame is aluminum and not steel). I need to find some small steel plates to glue or double sided tape to the screen so it would catch the magnets. The other problem is whether or not the magnets are even any good. But I have replacements and I will probably use the metal pieces out of those and then just either hold the magnets as spares or get rid of them.

Also took a picture of the one bolt mount on the stbd hatch I have been trying to fix for awhile to remind myself and a picture of the counter so I don’t forget that I have rice (white and yellow) already on the boat to use.

The next available boat work time looks to be September 27th and 28th

Notes for Next Boat Work time

Reviewed and cleaned up version from last post. Hopefully can knock out some of these on the next run.

Order of Major Projects (based on this year’s goals)

• Wash down the exterior of the boat
  • Possibly new boat brush
• Wipe down the interior of the boat
• Get Bimini Top squared away
• Work on Bilges
• Work on Steering Hydraulics
  • Remember to bring Dewalt portable pump
  • Remember pneumatic adapters
• Scope the Fuel Tanks and test method for checking fill level
  • Need to take a dowel rod as potential method
  • Still don’t have a working key size for the fuel caps
• Trace Fuel lines and Cutoff valves
• Work on Racor replacement
  • Replacement Racor (onsite)
• Trace sea-cocks engine coolant loops
  • Engine Coolant (Green)
• Test Generator and Engines
• Scope the waste tank
• Repair Aft Head

Order of Minor Projects

• Curtains
  • Need to make
• Measure spacing of mounts for Bimini Roof and Sides
• Test Anchor Light
• Screen for front hatch
  • Should just need to secure metal pieces to it
  • Check machine screws at home?
• Replace center latch on stbd hatch
  • Remember punches
• Mount waste placard
• Get sliding windows to work
  • Potentially needs crevice brush
• Clean fwd head
• Clean out fwd head exhaust fan
• Prep portable toilet for use
  • Need at least 1 water jug
• Figure out what adapter is needed to work with the marina’s pump out system
• Figure out what the meter in the kitchen goes to
• Figure out what the pull knob in the kitchen goes to
• Figure out what the meter in the aft head goes to
• Inspect the fwd and aft air conditioning units to see why the lack of air flow
• Wire trace the circuit for the air conditioning pump

Stretch Goals (not to work on this year unless everything above is done)

• Figure out a way to do my own pump out of waste tank
  • Requires scoping of the tank to get an idea what we are working with
  • Need to buy a portable tank
  • Need to buy some kind of pump
  • Need to figure out/buy attachments to each
• Wire in another AC Plug at the dining table
  • Need a plug and a plug mount case
  • Need a length of wiring to go from current plug to new plug
  • Will need tools for cutting opening in bulkhead
• Finish TV stand and get TV for boat
  • Just need replacement nuts for the ones I used for the mounting stand

Things to look for when parts shopping

• New boat brush
• Crevice Brush (can use just plastic scrub brush in the short term)
• Engine coolant (not till this is verified)

Final Thoughts

Original Boat Neighbors on the Stbd side were gone. Not sure what happened to them and didn’t really take to the new boat in it’s place. Will try to do better making an effort to talk to the new guy next door.

We are now on a strict timeline for certain things (particularly the major projects) as the boat is now scheduled to be hauled out on October 15th and shrink wrapped after November 1st.

Didn’t get the boat out on the open water this year but this will be a high priority for next year.