Pacemaker Boat Owners Association

Sounds like a blast! Here in Maine my boat is on the hard for winter.

Looking forward to hearing all about it, Take pictures!

JoeBobb,
Have fun and be safe. Like Case1952 I am now on the hard, matter of fact I just got Miss Nancy off the trailer in time for snow. I now just need to get her covered. Like you and most members of the club, I have the "list" of things to get done over the winter. Again have a great time.

Sounds great, enjoy. A lot more fun than cold, wet and snow.

Hey Joe Bobb!! Are you in St Pete?! I live in St Pete!! Call me 727-366-9863

Joebobb, We have heard nothing from you about the epic voyage, are you out there or lost in the bermuda triange? Have a safe new year!

Hi everyone!

Sorry for not replying earlier. We made the trip. It was a crazy adventure! I'll try and give a short summary of the trip here. To recap, I told a friend and colleague of mine here in Berlin that I had this goal of taking my boat on a round-trip cruise from St. Pete to Key West...a sort of SCUBA-diving, fishing, boating, camping, drinking, girl-chasing adventure. Surprisingly, he was all for it! Everything else, as they say, is history...

Firstly, there are pictures here, with a narrative, if you can access this Facebook album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100517754213251.2728271.5028089&type=1&l=461a08159a

Here is Part 1 of the summary...To Key West

I flew over to Florida a week before the trip was planned in order to work on the boat and get her ship-shape. Key objectives included FINALLY getting the fresh-water system to work, repairing the stern bilge pump, putting the head back together, installing some trim tabs, thoroughly cleaning the bottom, and just general preparation. After a solid week of working on the boat - including various unexpected things, I basically only accomplished one of these: the stern bilge pump. A good thing in the end - it was a key piece of equipment. As an aside, I had a problem with the starter. I had a second "new" starter and installed it, and still had problems. Traced it down to a bad connection, which I corrected. During this process I ended up reinstalling the old starter (which seemed to be working fine). I had installed a solenoid on it that looked new. It wasn't. The relevance of this will become obvious later in the story...

We left St. Pete around lunchtime on Wednesday, November 2nd. The boat was loaded for bear. One thing I decided NOT to bring: the second starter. The current starter seemed to be OK and West Marine St. Pete had two other starters in stock, so I figured worst-case scenario, I'll buy another starter in Key West...they-re bound to have one in stock too (this will also be relevant to the story later). Stopped in the mouth of the Manatee River where I cleaned the bottom really well, and then headed South. At dark we stopped at Marker 4 restaurant in Venice to eat. Excellent seafood and cold beer. Later, we continued towards Boca Grande, but ended up anchoring for the night in a sheltered spot near a bridge.

Next morning, the battery alarm went off on the GPS when I connected it. Engine started fine. Voltage at both batteries at 14V when charging. Had breakfast and fueled up and continued on our way. Ran South past Ft. Myers beach with the intention of pulling into a marina and dive center in Wiggins Pass. Tried to catch some mackerel under some diving birds and bait along the way. Inside Wiggins Pass the river was very poorly marked and we started to run out of water - and sunlight. The marina was also apparently closed for the night, so given the conditions, we decided to scrub the planned dives off the coast of Naples, head to Naples for the night, and head to Key West a day earlier. Trip to Naples from Wiggins was in the dark along the coast. Came uncomfortably close to running into a fishing pier that was poorly illuminated (Naples Pier). We were running a little too close to shore. Made it to Naples at night, ate at a good restaurant, and tied up at the Municipal dock for the night. Charged batteries on shore power.

Left Naples early in the morning, heading to Marco Island. Fueled up in Marco Island and got two 5 gal. gas cans for reserve. Headed for Key West. Distance: about 90 nautical miles, including the channels, etc. Theoretical fuel reserve dependent upon speed. JUST enough fuel on board to make the trip on plane. Too risky. The plan was to run at hull speed or slightly higher, which should give us about double the necessary range. But the trip would be long...13 hours...meaning a night-time arrival.

Stopped off the coast of Marco Island to fish again (no success). Afterwards, the starter wouldn't turn over. Solenoid not functioning. Tried all batteries. Pulled starter out, dismantled solenoid, smacked everything a couple times with a hammer and put it back together. Presto! She started! Decision: Keep going - but no stopping. Weather was OK - seas 2-4 near shore. But expected to worsen - to 4-6 in the evening with 20kt winds from the NW. The seas worsened alright. As darkness fell, we finally sighted the markers for the Key West channel (after a nervous hour or so of scanning the horizon). The channel run was rough. The seas and wind were directly astern of us and the channel was not easy to follow under the conditions. Worry about the shoal water around the channel and the VERY REAL danger of broaching or pitching made the final leg of the run to Key West very nerve wracking. We came close to broaching twice...and pitched into the trough of a wave, burying her bow completely about the same number of times. In the darkness, while trying to navigate the channel, it was very difficult to time the waves and keep her well positioned relative to them. In all honesty at the end we were seeing occasional breaking rollers to 10 feet. I don't think that is an exaggeration at all. The 4-6 forecast was for upper Florida Bay, where it was still sheltered from the NW wind by the body of the mainland. Where we were, the seas had fetched across a good part of the Gulf before reaching us. Anyway, we made it to Key West, found ourselves a slip at the Galleon Marina. When we told the guy at the marina that we had just run in that night he was a little amazed. Afterwards, we joined a friend of mine, Sam, for dinner in a nice, Italian restaurant just before they closed. Thank the gods that the darn engine didn't konk out during the run through the channel.

End of Part 1...

Sounds like even with the problems you had that you had a great time. The photos on your face book page are great. Looking forward to hearing the remaineder of the trip.

The pictures are great, looks like it was a great adventure. Look forward to the "rest of the story".

Part 2. In the Keys...

So the plan was to do some fairly intense diving in the Keys. The first day there we got a late start and headed out to the first of two planned stops. The first dive was a learning experience. We tied up to a mooring ball at the dive spot (called Western Dry Rocks, about 15 nautical miles out from Key West). The seas were choppy, but we came up with a fairly effective system for getting in the water and geared up without too much trouble. The swim platform came in handy. The current was quite strong and although we were navigating with André's compass underwater, we did not effectively compensate for drift. As a result, when we surfaced to check our position relative to the boat on our return, we found ourselves to be about 200 yards downstream. I had only about 500psi of air in my tank at this time and wasn't carrying an ideal amount of weight so it was not particularly easy to return to the bottom. Anyway, I did so and we swam as far as possible underwater. I emptied my tank completely (first time for everything) and then surfaced - continuing the swim in the rather rough seas. It was unpleasant and a little scary, frankly, but we eventually made it to the polypropylene rope & float I had set out behind the boat. We took a break and had a celebratory beer and then prepared to head for the next dive spot when click-click...the starter wouldn't turn over. I pulled it out, pushed, prodded, smacked with hammer, called it a m*****rf****r and various, other names - to no avail. Tried to hail Sea Tow on my newly installed fixed VHF, which promptly gave me a "low battery" alarm and turned off! Hmmm - not good. Tried the hand-held VHF...no reply (I don't recall what the issue was...Sea Tow wasn't listening, or if the hand-held was dead or if it was a battery issue too.). At this stage, of course, I am not particularly pleased. It's getting dark, we're bouncing around unpleasantly at the mooring buoy - and I can't hail anyone. I tried the cell phone and - success - RIGHT at the edge of range! Contacted Sea Tow...dropped signal....called again and spoke long enough to communicate our position. So, another hour of bobbing around and Sea Tow comes and gets us - a rather humiliating return to port. Oddly enough, I communicated frequently with Sea Tow during their trip to us and after picking us up with the hand-held). Low battery signals from the fixed VHF and the GPS are worrying. We end up back in the harbour late...but not too late to join Sam again for a dinner out - followed by a few drinks out on the town! One funny aside: half-way through the tow, the hawser broke and the Sea Tow guys didn't even notice for about two minutes! So they just kept going on their merry way, while we (enjoying a beer on the flybridge and the "free" ride home) tried to get their attention.

Day two in the Keys: Time to solve this electrical problem. Charged the batteries overnight, but in the morning, the low battery signal again from the VHF. Took the house battery to West Marine to test. Verdict: battery is shot. OK, $290 bucks later and I've got a nice new AGM deep cycle. Next problem - the starter. I am sure it's not just the battery (engine battery is OK). The solenoid is only intermittently functioning. If you recall I had replaced the solenoid with a "new" one I had in the garage at home before the trip. I vaguely remembered after having this starting trouble that the reason I had a barely used solenoid in the garage was because it was an intermittently functioning POS that I had replaced about five years ago! Well, after five years, we forget details like this. Moral of the story...throw nonfunctioning crap away! I have no idea why I kept it. Anyway, I start looking for a Crusader starter in Key West. None at West Marine. None at a couple other boat stores. I took taxis back and forth on the Island, with no luck. I was getting fairly desperate and ordered one to be overnighted by West Marine (an expensive proposition). This was Sunday, BTW. The starter would be here on Tuesday midday (ugh). Two other options remained: NAPA might have one - but they wouldn't be open until tomorrow morning. Or the electrical shop might be able to rebuild mine. Decision made to wake up early Monday and see if I could luck out. Finished the day with another dinner with Sam and another evening of drinking. Met a couple cute girls at the Green Parrott and André played his first game of pool (he's German - I guess it's not too common over here).

Monday morning: Stop by electrical shop. Yeah - they can rebuild it. How long? Hmmm - depends upon if they have the right solenoid in stock. I decide to take the taxi to NAPA. YES!!! NAPA has one in stock...nice shiny new one! Back to the boat (stopped at West Marine to cancel the order). New starter in...and on the water in short order. Electrical problems should be solved. Head back to Western Dry Rocks. Nice dive. We have our system down pat now...surface at 1/2 tank, get a bearing on the boat, and compensate for drift. Getting reading to head for second dive spot and - click-click. OK...this is getting to be too much! New battery...new starter...and yet, no starting. I screw around with a couple things - and then try bypassing the solenoid with a screwdriver. Success...she starts! I can't believe the new starter's solenoid is bad. I am convinced there might be another problem...a voltage problem related to poor connections somewhere. Anyway, we head back to port. No desire to go to the second spot and have another problem. Finish the night per usual...dinner and some drinking.

Tuesday...f-ing with the electrical system again. Cleaned all the connections. Seems to fix things. I buy a new starter switch anyway. I am confident that, worst case scenario, I can just bypass the damn solenoid and have a wire Macgyvered for this purpose if need be. Two dives...one at Sand Key and the second in deep water. Choppy but we were sort of accustomed to it now. Dove an interesting wall - but ran out of light. Out of the water just as darkness falls. Kind of scary swimming back to the boat in rapidly falling light. Can't help but think of what it would be like if we were 30 minutes later...and the anchor light were to burn out...

End of part 2.

A good writer always leaves the reader wanting more... Ok I am ready for more.

Ok y'all...here is part 3...the return to the mainland...

Wednesday was the day for the return to the mainland. The weather had been slowly improving, but on Thursday it was going to get worse again, as there was a cold front approaching. We got a late start mainly because my partner in crime was still recovering from our night of drinking and was taking his time getting ready. We had to check out from the marina, return some dive cylinders, pick up some stuff here and there, etc. This became suddenly very hectic when I was informed at the office that the harbour mouth was going to be closed at 11:00 due to the offshore race that was beginning that day!!! I got this news at about 10:00. So - lots of running around (literally) started, because not only did we have to take care of all these little things but we had to fuel up! So we rush to the fuel dock...fuel up, and bah...ran out of time! I was pretty pissed...until I found out that the harbour would not be closed for the entire day (as I had been informed at the marina) but rather, closed until 13:00 or so. So we decided to make the best of it and go tie up near the break-water and watch the race. We did for a while, and then found out that the race was interrupted for whatever reason and that the harbour was opening early. So without further adieu, we head out.

It was a lovely day, nice and sunny. There was a bit of wind, but nothing like the evening we arrived. Seas were reported to be 2-4, with winds of 10-15kt. It was going to get worse in the evening, but as the wind was North to Northwest, I was fairly sure that we would be sheltered by Marco Island and the Cape Romano Shoals. Our destination was actually Goodland, which is to the East of Marco Island. Our plan was to overnight in Goodland and to visit the Everglades the next day.

The trip to Goodland was exactly the opposite (relative to the weather) as the trip to Key West. Instead of a heavy, following sea we were driving directly into heavy choppy seas. The sense of danger was definitely less (on my side), but as night fell it became less and less comfortable. Bright Idea regularly took green water over the bow - such that for much of the trip the deck was awash. I ran the bilge pump regularly, so taking on water wasn't a problem in that regard - however, every single place that could leak in the fo'c'sle DID leak...a regular drip from the foredeck hatch and some thin streams of water from the guard-rail stanchions. As a result of this - and the result of being on the fly bridge and being constantly struck with large amounts of spray - most of our clothes and much of the bedding became wet. Another concern that arose fairly early in the trip had to do with fuel consumption. For whatever reason - including the headwind - our consumption seemed to be much higher than I had calculated on. I had been hoping we could run a bit faster than hull speed, but some quick and dirty calculations suggested we would be out of fuel before we reached land. I didn't see how this could be correct, but to avoid this potential, we had to slow down to hull speed. This reduced our consumption, of course, but made the trip longer and a bit less comfortable.

The effect of the Shoals on the seas didn't seem to be very significant. It wasn't until we were within about 10 nautical miles of Indian Key that I started to have the impression that we were somewhat sheltered from the seas. I actually recalculated our course as we approached landfall to cut the corner somewhat. As a result, we started to head westerly towards Gullivan Bay and the entry to Goodland. I throttled up too, because we had a reasonable amount of fuel on board, and we were both wet were looking forward to getting somewhere were we could take a nice shower and sort out the wet mess below decks.

The entry into Goodland wasn't too bad. Worse was trying to find the marina. My GPS units charts for this area (Garmin GPSMap 172S) were very bad and lacking detail. My paper charts were helpful, but the marina was of course not on them. We found A marina - the wrong one - tried to call the dockmaster, etc - no luck (it was apparently too late). Eventually, we puttered around a bit and eventually found it. No chance to find a restaurant at that hour, so we took showers and I cooked some rice. So, rice, tortilla chips and salsa, and beer for dinner! Actually, it wasn't all bad. We had survived the trip, and we were able to find enough dry clothes and bedding, that we could sleep OK.

Next day started off great. Nice sunny day. Emptied the boat out, washed wet clothes etc in water and laide everything out to dry. Hitched a ride with the dockmaster to a really good restaurant, and bought some bait and other stuff in order to go fishing. Loaded up the boat, ready to go to the fuel dock, and prepare to head for the Everglades, and...click...click...

Well, it seems to me that I should finish this story. So here is part 4 of 4:

The "click-click" described above was the brand-new starter not turning over. I replaced the ignition switch with the new one and checked voltage at the switch and at the starter solenoid. About 13.5V at the switch - but about 10V at the solenoid. So it seemed that circuit resistance was probably causing the intermittent solenoid actuation. So basically, I had had three different electrical problems at the same time, all effecting the starting system: the bad battery, the intermittently non-functioning solenoid, and the excessive starter circuit resistance. This was of course amazingly frustrating. The root cause of this problem is the number of connections present in the circuit, which, combined with typical corrosion, resulted in unacceptably high resistance. As a stop-gap measure I bypassed a couple screw connections with a butt connector, which solved the problem for the rest of the trip.

Regardless, screwing around with the starter meant no trip to the Everglades. That was disappointing. Also problematic: the fuel dock was closed by the time we were underway. We had 10 gallons of fuel in two jerry cans, which I estimated would JUST get us to Naples. We decided to head towards Naples and maybe do a little fishing on the way.

As luck would have it a bait shop on the water was open, so we were able to fuel up and to buy some live shrimp. So, newly optimistic, we headed for Naples - or more precisely, to a spot I had identified as being a promising spot, given the tides, etc.

Nightfall came while we were underway. No problem - break out the spotlight. Well, it was no problem until the spotlight quit working. There was almost no moon to speak of, and the channel was narrow, sparsely-marked, and passing through very shoal water. So frustrating! We anchored quickly just outside of the channel and I proceeded to dismantle the spotlight. The problem turned out to be the 12V "lighter" connector, which was a cheaply-made POS that had broken internally. Miraculously, I had a spare, so after 15 minutes of hasty work we were back in business!

We ended up finding the fishing spot, anchoring, and tossing some lines out. It turned out to be a great spot and Andre caught his first fish (first time fishing). He was a quick learner. The bite was on when we got to the spot and he had two large fish on almost immediately. They both broke off, but based on the size and their behaviour I am pretty sure they were tarpon, which was very exciting. We both ended up landing good-sized ladyfish and he also boated a decent sized cat - and then the bite was off. We started to get attacked by mosquitoes. Not a problem for a Florida cracker, but Andre was a little worried - about malaria, of all things! I told him I'd never heard of anyone getting malaria in south Florida - but I couldn't guarantee that it didn't exist! We ended up moving towards the center of a shallow bay and anchoring for the night. The mosquito problem disappeared then, and we just drank a few beers, BS'ed about whatever, and ate some Zatarain's Red Beans & Rice. The next day we headed to Naples, fueled up again and headed north.

We decided to skip breakfast and eat lunch somewhere near Ft. Myer's Beach. The plan was to run up the coast and then pass into the ICW at Big Hickory Pass. My charts are about ten years old and it seems that the passes here had changed. Indeed, looking at the newest chart right now, Big and Little Hickory Passes don't even exist anymore! They've been replaced by Big Carlos Pass and New Pass. Anyway, we apparently past through New Pass (which I mistook for Big Hickory Pass) and ran soft aground trying to enter into what should have been a relatively deep channel. Luckily, we were really soft aground - I was able to work us off the sandbank and we headed back to the gulf and then came back in through what is apparently Big Carlos Pass.

We ate lunch at a really posh restaurant at Snook Bight Marina. The wind picked up but we kept going past Ft. Myer's Beach, with the intention of fueling up somewhere near San Carlos Bay. Unfortunately, we were running out of time, so I tried to run to a fuel dock, but was unable to make it there before they closed. What followed was a mad dash to another fuel dock about an hour north, which was open a little longer. About half-way there we decided to just head to Boca Grande for the night instead.

Boca Grande was interesting. There was a posh marina that was practically full - and all the boats were extremely large and attractive. I had a little angst about pulling in there with the old, natty Bright Idea - so I kept going to the next place, which was the marina equivalent of a run-down single-wide with a couple broken down pick-up trucks in the front yard. A rather fat lady came out of the office/shack and told us it would cost some astronomical fee to stay there. We decided against it and went back to the fancy place. A good move in the end. We tied up, showered up, and walked to "downtown" Boca Grande for dinner. It was good, but extremely pricey. Left the next morning early. The dockmaster wasn't in yet, so the overnight stay didn't cost anything. A pleasant experience at the posh marina: A couple well-dressed younger guys who obviously had some experience boating came up and told me that of all the boats in the marina, they liked the Bright Idea the best. It was nice to see an old classic still on the water, they said. Compliment accepted!

We headed north again, picking up fuel on the way. Had lunch with a good friend of mine at Mar Vista on Longboat Key and took him for a short joy-ride, with a couple manatee spottings mixed in.

We had planned on trying to fish once more in Tampa Bay. As we headed into the bay from the ICW, I hit something and found that we could suddenly barely make headway. Arghh! More unexpected problems. Behind us, the brim of a baseball hat floated in the wake. I ended up having to dive in to inspect the prop. It turned out that we had struck a baseball cap of all things, and the cap body had become wrapped around the propeller! So I cleared that off and we were able to proceed again. We did stop briefly to fish under the Skyway Bridge, but caught nothing. It was a brief stop due to the cap collision incident. We ended up getting back to St. Petersburg at about 20:00...the end of a rather eventful (and expensive) trip. But well worth it.

Sounds like a good time was had by all. Thanks for sharing both the story and the photos.