Century Club: mike pitchford

Thursday, February 15, 2024 to Sunday, February 25, 2024
Number of days:
11 days

Back from our 12 day cruise across the Okeechobee to the gulf coast. For all the fresh water and rain crossing the Lake on the way back I was surprised at how dirty the boat was, especially a kind of "film" on the hull. The locks have lines that hang in the water so I expect the cockpit and deck to be dirty passing through six locks. The hull film was new.

Anyway it is all clean and we enjoyed a week plus back in Stuart before going back to Annapolis for a week of meetings etc.

Saturday, February 3, 2024 to Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Number of days:
12 days
  • 500 mile round trip to Sarasota

Florida has NOT lived up to its reputation this winter. El Nino has brought us a colder and wetter winter in South Florida this year. And so it was that we started and ended a 12 day cruise across the state and up the GIWW to Sarasota with rain and wind on the front and back end.

The Okeechobee Waterway includes seven locks and covers 149 miles from the AIWW to the GIWW. The transit is roughly from the east coast town of Stuart to the west coast town of Ft Meyers. The rough half way point on the Okeechobee is the town of Clewiston.

We stopped in Clewiston both ways. It is a slice of America. The main industry is the US Sugar operations around the town and the main entertainment is bass fishing on the Lake.

The weather was kinder to us while on the GIWW. We made stops in Ft Meyers, Venice, Sarasota and Punta Gorda in fairly nice and mostly sunny weather.

Saturday, January 6, 2024 to Friday, February 2, 2024
Number of days:
23 days

The boat and crew made it to Florida last November. While the boat stayed and enjoyed the warm air and waters of south Florida the crew went home for the holidays.

Plans to be back on the boat before the new year's celebration were dashed when the kids needed help moving. And so we did the good parent/grandparent thing and delayed our transit from cold to warm and helped out.

It was January 6th before we got out of Annapolis (just ahead of a significant cold front) and reunited with the boat in Stuart Florida. Since then Annapolis has had two measurable snow storms, a storm surge event and plenty of ice on the back creeks.

Good call I would say!

Friday, November 24, 2023 to Saturday, November 25, 2023
Number of days:
2 days
  • ready for winter

Thanksgiving is always the final warning that winter is upon us. It always seems to sneak up on me. Those warmer early November afternoons always lull me into thinking the fall may continue. Then, slam! The string of late November near freezing mornings remind me I will be cold getting the fleet and house ready for winter.

And so it was in the days after Thanksgiving. Post turkey, I completed winterization on the Key West and covered her for the winter. I covered the row boat and tied down the kayaks with ratchet straps. The SUPs went to the screened porch as did the deck and dock furniture. The dock water was shut off and drained.

Tomorrow, maybe holiday lights for the little sailboat?

Wednesday, November 22, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
  • winter cover coming soon!

Yesterday was a day of rain (technically it lasted about 20 hours). Towards the end the winds picked up to well over 30 knots. The midnight high tide was eight inches over my dock and flooded downtown Annapolis.

This morning I went for a short boat ride to check on friends' docks. I then began the sad task of winterizing and covering our fleet for the winter to come.

Thursday, November 2, 2023 to Tuesday, November 14, 2023
Number of days:
13 days

Sue and I made it to Stuart Florida yesterday. Sun set Bay Marina in Stuart is our winter home. It was eleven days, 1200 miles, 69 engine hours, 900 gallons of diesel and ten marina nights. The schedule, the weather, the crew and the boat all cooperated to make it go just as scheduled.

Sunday, October 29, 2023
Number of days:
1 day

Granddaughter Quinn was with us for the night.  This morning she wanted to go for a boat ride. The weather was cooperative and so the plan was confirmed.  Of course, underway she also wanted to drive.

Friday, October 27, 2023 to Saturday, October 28, 2023
Number of days:
2 days

We have nice fall weather for a few days here in late October. The boat and crew are headed south on the ICW to Florida beginning early November. The weather was perfect for annual and pre-trip maintenance.

Yesterday was oil change day. The Cummins main engine and the Onan Generator got new oil and filters. The day started with a short trip over to Annapolis to fuel up for the trip and make sure the engine and generator were warm for the following oil change.

The work itself took about two hours, with moire than a few "yoga like" moves in the engine room. The oil change pump is clearly the real champ in any oil change.

The transmission is on a 500 hour cycle so I will wait on that oil change. Today I will change the fuel filters and impellers. Once done a short trip back into the Bay will assure me all is ready for the 1200 miles to come.

Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Number of days:
0 days

Haven Harbour finished up some remedial items related to the earlier work and installation of dual Racor filters. It was a nice day crossing the bay to get back to our home slip.

There is more work to be done before I head south. Shore Power Solutions will be over in a week or so to determine if a soot stained aparent leak between the exhaust riser and turbo is just that, a leak solvable with cleaning and a new gasket, or a bad turbo. We will see.

Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Number of days:
1 day

From Late August into mid September the good folks from Haven Harbour has the boat for a list of things (repairs and upgrades) I wanted done before I head south to Florida for the winter. One of the upgrades was swapping the original single Racor filter for a dual Racor filter system.

The installation was very professionally done but the engine data screen freaked out upon restart. The engine hours were wrong and frozen at 428 (I had 590 on the engine at that point). Every start resulted in a series of engine communications error messages. The engine ran fine but the error messages were disconcerting.

So, after a couple unsuccessful efforts to sort it out at home and on a cruise, it was back to Haven Harbour for resolution. The folks from Shore Power Solutions will visit the boat plug into the ECM with their laptop and figure it out.

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