We left Vero Beach for a short, 14 mile run down the ICW to Fort Pierce. The plan was to stop at the city marina for few days, visit with friends on m/v Southern Pilot, and then move to the anchorage at Lake Worth to wait for the next window to cross to the Bahamas on December 2nd.
And another plan bites the dust.
Coming into the dock, while tossing lines to the dock hand helping us, our bow took an unexpected swing to port and hit the electrical box on the dock. Not a hard hit. But obviously hard enough to snap our bobstay (the cable that runs from our bow sprit -- the lovely piece of teak that extends out the front of our boat and secures our headstay -- to the hull).
It should look like this ... long cable running from the tip of the bow sprit to the attachment at the waterline. It supports the head sail and secures the dolphin striker to the hull (the 18in rod that points down to the water).
Unfortunately, after docking, the bow looked like this. With the cable and dolphin striker in the water (fortunately still attached at the water line).
The plate (missing now) midway up the hull was badly corroded on the inside, something that would certainly give way at an inopportune time, or as our son has told us during our previous break-downs "better here than in the middle of the Gulf Stream!" Hard to argue with that logic! Fort Pierce is a great place for a breakdown. Lots of services close by and great friends even closer.
Of course, it's Friday, so nothing to do but drink wine and enjoy the company of Ed and Connie Dooley (m/v Southern Pilot). That part was easy. Accepting that we'd miss the Dec. 2nd window to cross to the Bahamas, not so much.
Monday, November 30
Dan and Ed, two of the most optimistic captains I've met, really believed that it would be an easy fix to weld another connector plate on the hull and reattach all the hardware. Ed had a car in Ft Pierce and drove Dan to every boat yard with welding services, hopeful to find someone who could bring a portable welding unit to our dock for a "3-hour fix". Instead, we got a mechanical engineer to come view the boat, and he pointed out several stress fractures on the stainless steel stem head fitting that connects everything to the bow sprit (sorry for all the nautical jargon my non-boating friends!). There goes plans for an easy fix.
To remove the stem head fitting, all the hardware on the bow sprit had to come off. Remove the head sail, remove the two anchors and plates that connect to the teak board, remove the life lines and stainless railings on the bow ... lots more things I cannot remember, but suffice it to say, it was an all day job that Dan and Ed undertook without stop, on a hot, humid day.
And there is the culprit. The stem head fitting that had to be removed and taken to Wallaby Fabricators where they replaced the damaged plates. Good news: Dan and Ed got the fitting to the fabricators before closing time and they promised to get the repairs made by Thursday.
Friday, December 4
As promised, the new stem head fitting was repaired, shiny and bright by the end of the day on Thursday. Bright and early Friday, Ed was back on duty, helping Dan to reattach the fitting on the bow sprit. In the rain. All day. But of course.
The adhesive had to set up for a few days, so nothing to do but cover everything in a tarp, and hang out with Ed and Connie and other friends who had arrived at the marina. Life could be a lot worse.
The new stem head fitting.
Sunday, December 6.
Another full day of two guys reinstalling hardware back on the bow sprit. Anchors, life lines, bow rails, head sail.
The final fun step came with installing the newly fabricated base plate that holds the dolphin striker.
And, finally, reattaching the bob stay that secured everything together.
TA DAH!!!
Monday, December 7
The last thing that needed to be done was have a rigger come to the boat and check the lines that hold up the head sail and connect the sails to the mast. Since these were removed during "The Project", we wanted to make sure everything was adjusted and tensioned correctly.
With all that done, all we had to do was pay for it all! $600 for marina stay, $650 for welding, $266 for rigger. It seems that $1000 is a minimum nice round number for every breakdown we've had this year. Thank goodness we got a 20% coupon for dinner at the Tiki Bar to celebrate our last night in Fort Pierce!
Being next to this big guy blocked the wind and waves for us at dock
Tuesday, December 8
Day 12 since our "brief stop" in Fort Pierce, but we don't care b/c we are underway once more. It's pouring rain, the wind is blowing 20knots, but we don't care b/c we are moving again! Due to the weather, we stayed on the ICW for the run down to Lake Worth. One night at anchor and several bridges to deal with ... but we don't care b/c we are moving again!
Our new windows make reading channel markers in the rain soooo much easier!
At anchor at Hobe Sound.
Wednesday, December 9
Final stretch into West Palm Beach and the Lake Worth anchorage. Thursday looks like an excellent day to cross to the Bahamas and the Lake Worth Inlet will be a good spot to jump back into the Atlantic. Our friends, Matt and Marty Miller on s/v Runaway are already in Lake Worth, planning to make the same crossing, so we're feeling good to have company to cross the Gulf Stream and get into Nassau Harbor, which they have done many times.
James and Alma arrive in the Bahamas on December 20, and we are finally feeling optimistic that we'll be there to meet their plane in Black Point, Exumas. We left Brunswick on November 11 feeling that we had PLENTY of time to arrive in the Bahamas before them. But then came 8 days in Daytona Beach dealing with the transmission, followed by 11 days in Fort Pierce which seriously eroded our confidence.
But we made it! It's noon. We're anchored in Lake Worth. Ready to head out the inlet at 6am tomorrow. Life is Good. Can I relax now????
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