April 30th -May 3rd 2014 Huckins Boat Yard Jacksonville

I should mention that our venerable Kodak digital camera has up and died.  So pictures are a little sparse until we secure another one somewhere up the coast.  I should also make note that we are , as of Thursday, May 21 on our way from Savannah to Charleston.  Yes, I'm a little behind.  
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We were woken up the next morning by one of the yard guys knocking on the starboard wing door.  He was asking why we were here.  It was 8am and I couldn't tell him who we were or why we were here for a few seconds.  I think the guy became a little suspicious after that.

Deb, the office manager,  had instructed us to just tie up when we arrived and let the security guard know we were there.  We did that but evidently the information didn't make over to the yard guys.

We were awake enough  when a few minutes later when PJ, the yard foreman  came aboard.  I told him what we wanted to accomplish and gave him a list.   After a short walk around the boat he headed off to do his estimates and we walked around and had a look at the place.  There are several fine old Huckins yachts here.  And a few non-Huckins boats having work completed.

We headed over to the main office and met Deb knows most everything.  She's the go-to person.  We signed the typical marina agreement and were told we couldn't live on the boat when it was out of the water.  And actually it's a good thing since we cant run our A/C units unless the boat is in the water.  The weather is projecting 90's for the next several days.  There are also no showers and the bathrooms are locked when Jerry, the night security guy, leaves for the night.  Lap of luxury.

We were looking at a few days wait before we'd be getting hauled out but at least we knew the area since we had been here for several weeks last year.  We just hung around the boat and walked over to the Roosevelt Square, the nearby mall Wednesday.

Thursday we got the work estimates and after talking with Deb and making a few adjustments we were told to expect work to begin Friday morning.   After meeting with Deb we headed back to the boat where we both did some work on the computer, and started to clean.  We put away all the stuff we had out when the Hagens visited last week.  We didn't put away earlier simply because we have to stow under the beds and its sort of a pain.  And why do today what you can put off until tomorrow, right?

Move the 40 lb.battery box and floor board and there's my hole!

I went off for a late afternoon jaunt but Mary called a few minutes after I left.  "No Water"!  So back to the boat I went.  The fresh water pump died.  Most likely the pressure switch and I dont have a re-build kit for this particular pump.  I dug out the spare pump and started digging into the bilge.  The pumps are under a floor board (really deck grating) and in order to access it I have to move the two starting batteries for the Cummins engines.  Then once they are out of the way I get to hang down in a wet dark hole and unscrew water lines and disconnect an electrical fitting and pull the pump out.  Then reverse the whole process with a new pump.   Easy, except for the aches and pains associated with contorting an old body into a skinny hole in the floor.  But I got the new pump in, threw the breaker and ... nothing. No water.  No pump running noise.  It was late so I just said screw it, went out and filled some water jugs and went to bed.

So many water pumps ...

Next morning I was the first customer at West  Marine where I bought yet another model of water pump because they didn't have what I wanted in stock.  I got it back and had it mounted and in place in 15 minutes (practice seems to have a positive effect on repair expertise).  We threw the breaker and  ... nothing.  I couldn't believe it.  I went back in the hole and checked all the electrical connections which were fine.  Threw the breaker on again and still nothing ... except after a minute or so while I was pondering my next move the pump burst into life and started pumping water.  Near as I can figure it must have been the pressure switch not sensing any pressure in the lines.  But no matter.  We have water for another few months ... I'm a pessimist with water pumps now days.

Generator

The yard mechanic showed up a few hours later and he did the valves on the generator while I watched.  None of them needed adjustments and I saw how easy it was to do. So in another thousand hours of generator run time,. I'll be the one adjusting valves.

Next we tinkered with the port engine and the excessive oil/belt dust problem.  I was sure it was the idler pulley since I heard squeaking but we pulled the belt off and the pulley was fine.  He was sure it was a worn belt.  Ok, so I grabbed one of my spares and we put it on.  No more squeak and it looks like no more dust.  All in all, the guy was on the boat about an hour.

Saturday we did some financial investment work, and started organizing all our routes and track information from one computer to another.  Mary had a burst of energy and vacuumed and then defrosted the galley fridge.  After all that work we headed back over to Panera for dinner.  I should note we cant grill in the marina so it appears we'll be sampling the local eateries for awhile.

Curt & Marilyn

Sunday, Curt and Marilyn pulled into the Ortega Yacht Club where we stayed last year.  It was good to see them again.  We wandered over there and talked with Paul, the dock master for awhile too.  And he actually remembered us!

Yes.  Mary supervises "everything".  Craig was sooo happy

Monday finally rolled around and we were ready to go at 8:30.  I had to move the boat off the small  lift pier and move it over to the other slipway where the large is located.  Joe, one of the yard guys came with us to handle lines etc.

 I nestled the boat into the rather narrow large lift slipway and we tied it up  The large lift, driven by Craig, rolled up and they lowered the slings and plucked us out of the water with ease.

After 6,000 miles it's pretty dirty

Once we were swinging in the slings we could see first hand how dirty the bottom had become but also how minimal the damage the diver in Stuart insisted we had on the keel.

Joe power washed the hull over the course of 2 hours and it was pretty clean as far as we could see.

What do do.  Sit by the pool and relax maybe?

The boatyard has a policy of not living aboard when the boat is out of the water.  So we got to go to a hotel (at our expense) for three days while they cleaned, fixed, sanded and painted.   We ended up going to a Hilton Garden Inn which is located about 9 miles from the marina in Orange Park.  All we could do is sleep late and laze around the pool all day.  Yes it was kinda fun the first day but I was getting bored by the second day.  On the third day we elected to call Joe (The other Joe) and ask him to pick us up at the hotel and take us back to the boat yard so we could see what was going on

Joe is a classic New York Italian who stopped at Huckins about 10 years ago to have a plumbing problem rectified.  And he never left, living on his 36 Manatee at the boat yard and doing parts runs and other errands like picking up customers form the airport or driving customers to hotels.  Colorful is just insufficient to describe him.  Sweetheart of a man and I think he’s the panache that in part makes Huckins such a phenomenal place to stop.

It had been hot the last few days and today was no exception.  Another day in the 90’s!   Even the normal retinue of cats were all under the shady bushes and uninterested in trotting out to investigate us when we were walking into the yard.  And yes, I brought them cat treats just like several others there.  They seem to live a pretty good life for wild cats.

We were gone for 2 days and in that time the yard accomplished quite a bit of work.  The boats hull had been painted, a full bottom paint job.  They also raised the level of the bottom paint line slightly because our water line seems to have sunk a few inches, undoubtedly due to the amount of “stuff” we have on board.  Looks really good, and I think it will help keep the scum lines more controllable. 

Before they repaired the cracks on the rub rail end

The fiberglass guys were finishing up repairing some of the big nicks and gouges we had from the Loop trip and the Locks in the Canals.  Canals and Lock can be hard on a boat!  They were also repairing the windlass which had developed an annoying oil leak. 

The dinghy was already to go and all we had to do was wait for an estimate on the swim platform.  So instead of hanging around the hot boat yard we trudged off to the mall and had lunch in the cool of a Subway.  We took our time and after a while headed back to the boat yard to wait for Joe to take us back to the hotel.  But we did find out they were planning on putting us back in the water the next afternoon.

We loitered around the hotel the next morning not wanting to endure the heat at the boat yard.  Around noon we took a cab the 9 miles back to Huckins.  The cab driver was a displaced boat builder from Maine.  A wood boat builder no less, who was looking for work in Jacksonville.

We arrived with all our luggage in hand.  The day before we had the foresight to take our laundry back to the boat.  Yes we brought a huge load of laundry to the hotel because the boatyard didn’t have laundry facilities and the hotel did.  And cheap ones too!  I guess we've reached the age where there is no embarrassment.  It sure wasn't embarrassing to us having our bags of dirty laundry in the middle of the hotel lobby acting as sort of a divider forcing people to the left or right side of the counter.  Oh well.

They had the boat off the jack stands and in the sling as we returned from the hotel.  We did take a cab much to Joe’s annoyance. 

Fiberglass work with tape and coverings

The fiberglass guys had removed all his tape etc. so as soon as we arrived and they took a few minutes and put us back in the water, stern first.  It floated! But being in stern first wasn't such a great thing because I cant see a thing behind when I’m trying to back the boat anywhere.  And the slipway was incredibly narrow,  So the yard guys simply hooked up a few dock lines and we hauled our 26 ton monster up the slipway and around the corner to eventually tie it up on the face dock.  

Luckily there was an incoming tide so the current just helped push the boat around the corner. 

On the face dock after being pulled around the corner

We stayed there for the night after a power glitch was remedied (main breaker had been thrown).  We were asked to not start the engines and move the boat because of the fiberglass repairs at the butt end of the rub rail on the stern. 

In the water!

The next morning at 8am we started up and moved the boat back inside the boat yard basin next to another large boat, Lime Time.  And Gregg and Dona stopped to see us  and we headed over to Metropolitan Café in the mall.  It’s a local favorite and really good.  Spend several hours with them talking and eating.  What a great surprise to see them!

New zincs, new paint, new swim platform strut

When we returned I had a nice talk with the mechanic and he said the belt was delivered and he got everything put back together and test ran the generator.  And he even fabricated a little metal dowel which repaired the generator sound shield panel which was being held by one a single pin.  Thanks!   So I guess we’re all set which meant we had to pay the bill.  Yikes!  But the yard gave the boat a nice wash down for free!  We decided not to leave until the following morning so we could ride the ebb tide out the river to join the ICW at Sister Creek near the inlet to the ocean.  Last year we took the ocean to Fernandina Beach but since we were planning on stopping at Ft. George it didn't make sense to head outside.

We had parked the dinghy under the garage type building in front  of where we were tied up.  We decided to take a ride and test out the new steering they repaired.  Wheel turns like butter.  So we  took it up the river a ways and then back down river and out under the Ortega Bridge to the out to the St. Johns river.  It was rather rough out there so we headed back and decided to just load it back up on the boat in case we decided to leave the next morning. 

But late in the afternoon I discovered the Windlass was leaking oil again.  Justin came over and noted that the O ring they had used to repair the Windlass sight glass leak wasn't doing the job and he offered to order a sight glass and even drive to where we would be and install it!  Wow!. But I declined since we weren't sure where we’d be.  So he was simply going to mail it to us when we finally stop at a marina.  Probably Thunderbolt in GA.

So now we're leaving in the morning!  At 8:00 am though which will get us into a nice ebbing tidal current.  Getting up though might be a challenge.