As purchased, the boat had limited instrumentation: two old VHF transceivers (one operational with an almost unreadable screen), a 12″ chart plotter no longer supported by Garmin, a working small screen chart plotter, and non-working engine instruments (tachometer, volt meter, and coolant temperature), and a good autopilot plus Garmin radar.

Over the ’23/24 winter, we replaced the pilot house VHF radio, added two way AIS capability (so you can track our location when its turned on), up graded the Garmin depth sensor, and started the long process of having the engine instruments repaired. Late last year we found a competent Volvo Penta tech who didn’t give up till he fixed them.

A previous post described using Dolly’s old iPad as a rear view mirror when wifi connected to the security camera in the pilot house roof.

Last week I switched the iPad to display our route on the Aquamaps app that is our primary navigation source. The charts on the 12″ Garmin plotter have much less depth information and are mainly useful showing the location and names of other AIS transmitting vessels. The small Garmin plotter is set to display depth data.

Other bits and pieces on the console are an ancient Lorance depth display, the air horn and windshield wiper switches. The two side windows are glass with wiper blades. Center window is lucite and openable. It has no wiper blade to prevent it being scratched.

“ …from Tedium to Apathy and back; about five days each way. It makes an occasional trip to Monotony, and once it made a run all the way to Ennui…”
Mr. Roberts”

― Thomas Heggen

Its been over two weeks since our last post. Now we are 34 days into the cruise. We started with the excitement and adventure of a new phase of our life. It was great for about ten days.

The stress of six to eight hour days following the waterway, listening to the drumming hum of the diesel engine, the biting flies, and the movement of the boat began to leave us extra tired at the end of the day.

And now, something wonderful is happening. Our muscles are accommodating. They aren’t sore anymore. When one of us asks “Are we having fun yet?” the answer is likely to be yes.

The second boat in the photo is the Solitude. We met the owners, Mark and Teresa Carpenter last evening. Then last night our air conditioner threw an error code and shut down. Today, Mark gave a master class in marine air conditioner maintenance and we are cool again. He cleaned the raw water strainer and found an air pocket in the line that kept the A/C unit from receiving cooling water.

The Belhaven Grand Manor Marina is the best we have encountered. Reasonable dockage ($2.00 per foot per night) is offset by free golf carts. The carts are allowed on the streets throughout Bellhaven. We have gone to Ace Hardware and to a grocery store a mile and a half away on the cart. Today we used one to have lunch in town. No Uber fees!

We’re only 15% into the 6000 mile great loop and this is what we’ve learned so far:

• Don’t cruise through Georgia in the spring without a vacuum cleaner in the pilot house. This is ours. It runs over ten minutes on a charge.

The biting horse flies love it. It gives them good exercise playing hide and seek with the inlet, and when they are ready they dive in and get a carousel ride round and round. When we step out on deck and open it, some fly away to tell their friends who soon show up on our windows. Others like it so much they stay.

• Never drop more anchor chain than the distance from the boat to the nearest shore. We learned this when the hook was dropped in the center of the channel at a secluded anchorage. Wind and current placed us near the shore as the tide went out. Oops! We were up late that evening waiting to refloat.