Repair and Prepare

This past summer, while river guiding in Jackson Hole, WY, I was faced with a question.  What to do with my winter.  Most of my friends were staying in the mountains.  The skiing, they informed me, was quite enjoyable.  I do like to enjoy myself.  However, I am a boat owner, a 31 foot Elizabethan sloop named "Strolla," to be exact.  Being a boat owner carries with it certain responsibilities.

Strolla had been docked all summer at my friend Laila's house in Ft. Lauderdale or, more correctly, docked at her neighbor's house because Laila's dock space had been rented out.  The boat couldn't stay there forever, couldn't stay there much longer at all, in fact.  With the summer guiding season at an end it was time to make a decision, either sell it or sail it.  Both options would necessitate a trip to Florida.  To me, the choice was obvious, time to find a crew.

My friend and sailing partner from last Winter, Pete Hinman, was not decidedly interested in round two.  He was happily situated in New Hampshire with a job and a girl and a new rental home.  Fortunately for me,the seasonal resort where I was working happened to be a great place to recruit adventurous compatriots.  Nearly everyone there would soon be unemployed and, with a lump sum of summer savings burning holes in their pockets.  I just had to convince them to spend it on a sailing trip.

The first two to bite were Nate Simkowski and Rebecca Holcomb.  They'd started dating while working in Vail, CO and had come to WY together, she to manage the bar and he to drive for the rafting department.  Next came Mark.  He'd originally left NJ for the Rockies in order to snowboard and had fallen into river guiding as a way to pass the summer.  I think leaving the mountains just as the winter season's first snows were falling was a hard decision for him.

We took a month off after the close of the season in WY and then met at Laila's house in Ft. Lauderdale on November 10th to get the boat ready.  I arrived a day early to inspect Strolla and see how she'd weathered the last six months. 

 

(The crew of Strolla with Laila)

Although in need of a little love, she looked pretty sound.  There were no insect infestations and no obvious signs of decay.  They were just hidden.  When I tried to shut the valve to the engine's raw water cooling system, the handle broke off.  It had rusted through over the summer.  Fortunately, the handle broke off with the valve open so the motor could still draw water to cool itself.  This put it at the bottom of the priority repair list.

When I started the diesel motor up it ran sweetly, then started to sputter, then choked to a stop.  Top of the priority list.  I checked the fuel filter.  It was rusted over and full of slime.  Apparently, there had been a bit of water inside it over the summer.  Yes, there was work to be done.

For the last ten days, the four of us worked to prepare Strolla for departure, all day every day.  As we poured over the boat, scraping and painting and reworking and repairing, the to-do list shrank faster than it grew and the appreciable progress was satisfying.

(Strolla at her winter berth in Ft. Lauderdale)

I'd had a lucrative summer on the river so I splurged on a few luxury items to make our lives a little more comfortable on the coming voyage.  Among my purchases were a chartplotter (with digital charts loaded!), a shortwave radio so we could receive regular weather forecasts and, a reliable outboard motor for the dinghy.  No, the old British Seagull motor my friend Pete and I had kicked and cursed all last Winter would not be coming with us.  Best of all, I bought a little refrigerator to fit under one of the benches.  Now, I hoped, we'd be able to enjoy cold beer and crisp vegetables in the tropics!

(While at Laila's, Nate and Becca slept on Strolla, I slept in the guest bedroom and, Mark slept on the pull-out)