What's Not to Like?

Umatilla, FL

People keep asking us if we are giving up our cruising life.  No.  Not yet anyhow.  This is an experiment, and a backup living arrangement just in case of future medical problems.   On the other hand, we are finding this area and this life style extremely attractive.

I already raved about the RV park, so I won't repeat that.

This part of Florida is delightful, and so unlike either coast.  There are actual hills around here OMG!   There are also green fields of grass, and rolled up bales of hay.   Local agriculture seems to be mostly horse farms, and citrus groves.  In fact, this very RV park is built on the site of an orange grove.  I'll tell that story in a later post.

This stationary front stayed overhead all morning.

Yesterday we toured Ocala National Forest, which is only 5 miles away.   We ended up at Alexander Springs.  What a delightful place.  The spring water there is as clear as the famous Silver Springs, and the water temperature there is 72 F (same temperature at all the springs around here.)  We are in Lake County, a place with 1735 spring-fed lakes, and 20% of the county's area is water.  Our local lake, Pearl Lake has water that tests cleaner than any municipal water supply.

Alexander Springs

Last week we made an excursion to IKEA in Orlando.  To Libby and I, shopping is not entertainment, but a chore.  IKEA is the exception to that rule.  We love going there.  We bought not only household stuff, but Christmas presents, and Swedish food.  However, even the brief exposure to Orlando's holiday off-peak traffic and congestion was a reminder of how different most of Florida is.  We think places like Umatilla are a paradise and places like Orlando are a hell.

We also find the people here are friendly and welcoming, both inside the park and in the city (Umatilla is a city, population 2502).

Meanwhile, Libby is doing a binge on gardening.  I love to see her enjoying herself so much.   I'll post some pictures soon of her results.

Peter Ryan, Blue Water Sailor

Umatilla, FL

Last year we met Peter Ryan.  Peter owns the W32 Onapua.   He is a long-time reader of this blog.  We met Peter at the W rendezvous in Port Canaveral, and again down in Boot Key Harbor.

Peter sailed single-handed to Bermuda and Maine last year.  Right now he is sailing single-handed from The Chesapeake to the BVIs.  He has one of those very clever Insight gadgets that sends his position.  It also allows him to send and receive "tweet" like messages.  I think he also gets weather from it.

Anyhow, it is very interesting and instructive to read Peter's chronicle from the list of tweets.  He encountered gale conditions out there for his first time.   In the tweets you can sense the fatigue and depression that sets in under those conditions.  Today, happily the weather and Peter's spirits are revived.

Peter's Blog page is here.

Peter's Insight page is here.  On the page you can see his track on the map (both last year's Bermuda passage, and the current BVI passage).  Click the down triangle to the left of Peter's name in the left panel, and you'll see the history of his tweets and position reports.  Scroll down to October, 31 (the start of this passage) and read the tweets in order.  To me it is highly interesting and educational.

Congratulations Peter.  You are out there doing it while I amd back here writing about it, and others are back here reading about it.

RV Newbies

Umatilla, FL

We're OK with the flip in our roles.  Instead of go-to experienced cruisers, we are the newbies in this life style.

We spent the weekend getting settled, and learning.  So far, almost all the surprising new things we learned have been pleasant surprises.

• The park owns a row boat that we can use on the lake.  It is a big heavy aluminum boat.  It won't go like our dinghy does, but we'll give it a try.
• I found the perfect place for morning exercise.  My favorite kind of exercise was step aerobics, that I learned in the 80s.  I can do that here in the early morning.
• The climate here last week and this week is idea.  75-80 F highs, and 60-65 lows.
• Libby's head is spinning with ideas for gardens.
• This location, and this RV park, are nearly ideal.  5 miles north of us is Ocala National Forest.   10 miles south of us is absolute hell.  There is a highway that stretches from the huge and famous retirement community of The Villages to Orlando.  It is all commercial business and heavy aggressive traffic for 50 miles.  Ugh.  But 10 miles is far enough away.
• Everyone in this park is a snowbird.  I've noticed that the people tend to replicate their "normal" lives here in miniature.  For example, a was a man today with a huge leaf rake.  He was raking up about a dozen leaves on his 15x15 lawn.  Another man turned his 8x10 shed into what he calls a "man cave"  he has a workbench and tools in there.  His own TV on the wall.  And, I'll wager a beer cooler.   I'll keep my eye out for more such signs of old habits dying hard.  I wonder what we will do to make up for the routine of using the dinghy to.
• A supermarket and a hardware store and a library are all within walking distance.  Hooray!  Our physical condition won't deteriorate as fast as it did the winter we spent in New Bern.

Hull Paint Project, Part 13

Umatilla, FL

Here is a picture of Tarwathie with the paint job finished.  Apologies for my photography skills.  You can't see much in the picture.

By the way, the supplier said to wait two weeks before waxing the hull.  I plan a few trips down to the boat this winter to work on boat projects.  Waxing will be one item on the list.

Hull Paint Project, Part 12 Summary

Umatilla, FL

Well, the project is done.  Tarwathie's hull is once again nearly pristine.  Hopefully, it will last 20 years, and hopefully our elevated experience level will let us avoid so many dings.   Here are the salient points that you may be interested in.

• I lost track of detailed expenses, but total out-of-pocket expenses were $2000-$3000.
• We worked on it 26 days.  Total labor about 400 hours.
• Our screw up with the first coat, caused about 1 week extra work and increased total expenses about 25%..
• We got advice on the project from many sources.

1. About a dozen DIY YouTube videos.

1. Our supplier, Jamestown Distributors and their expert RickW.

1. Our cruising friend Greg.   Greg's advice proved to be the most accurate and useful of all.  Thank you Greg.

• Our big screw up had to do with the roll-and-tip method.  None of the advisers gave in-depth descriptions of the tipping technique.  One of the videos mentioned thinner on the tipping brush.  That we misinterpreted, and used far too much thinner, which spoiled the whole job.
• After the screw up, everyone (RickW, Greg, any every boat owner in the boat yard) said to put the paint on thin. Not just thin, but really THIN coats.  I'm an engineer, and I need numbers.  "Thin" is not a number.  We learned from experience that we were putting it on too thin, attempting to get 225 square feet of coverage with one quart of paint.  That allowed to roller cover to dry out.  When that happened, the foam part of the roller cover started peeling off.  We used up to 5 roller covers on half the boat.  Bits of foam cover also started coming off and sticking to the paint.  When we cut the coverage back to 180 square feet per quart, it went much better.  The roller cover stayed wet with paint all the time, and the peeling and shedding of foam stopped.  We could do half the boat with a single roller cover.  Here's the irony.  In my book that seemed like applying the paint thick.   That's why I hate non-numeric adjectives in this context.  How much is thin?  How much is thick?  10 people might give you 10 answers.
• I learned that the rolling part of the roll-and-tip was most important to quality.
• I learned that the tipping worked best if we frequently dip the tip of the brush in thinner, but then wipe off the thinner with a cotton cloth before the tipping.  I think that was the part of the video that I misinterpreted.
• We also had personal limits.  We started work every day at first light, 0730.  But if we worked past noon, Libby and I would both get so tired that mistakes multiplied.
• Libby and I both gained the best upper body workouts ever.  It even got to the point that my shoulders stopped aching after work.  I take that as a sign that I was getting in shape.  Libby seemed to do OK physically too.  She did fall backward once, and hurt her palm trying to stop the fall, but the bruise healed in a couple of days.
• The professional painter at the boat yard does masterful work. I'm jealous every time I saw the quality of his paint jobs that I could never match.  But he is far too expensive for us, $300/foot, or about $10000-$12000 for the whole job.
• On the last day of the project, I talked to Ron.   Ron is a handyman who hangs around the yard doing odd jobs.  Ron said, that he had done Awlgrip paint jobs 5 times.  "Oh no," I though suppose his price was reasonable and his quality better?  I avoided asking him his price, because I was afraid of the answer.  If only we had met Ron before the project.
• Would we do it again?  I think Libby and I part opinions on this subject.  Libby wanted this job done for years.  Tarwathie's slightly banged up appearance bothered her.  I would have left it alone indefinitely.  I knew the job would be a big one, perhaps too big for people of our age.  I'm sure that Libby had no idea how much work it would be.  But in the end, I think we would not have changed our minds because of the amount of work.  So, would we do this paint project again?  I say, "probably not,"  Libby would say, "probably yes."

Here's a life tip and a secret to a long happy marriage. In the long run, Libby always gets what she wants. This hull paint project is a good example. In the long run, I always get what I want. Libby agreeing to abandoning our house in 2005 and living the cruising life is a good example. We do procrastinate, but we never whine to each other (or harbor internal resentments) about giving in to our partner's wishes. Procrastination helps filter short-term whimsical wants from deep-seated long term wants.