Hanging out in Fort Lauderdale

 Mid February to mid March 2022


Downtown Fort Lauderdale, oh my! We’ve spent the last 6 weeks or so living aboard docked on the New River opposite ‘The Wharf’, a night venue that rages until 4 am over weekends. Were we ever that young and brave that we could hang until closing? This stretch on the river is super busy on a weekend, with an array of vessels, some are pretty freaking impressive! We are looking forward to a more sedate live aboard existence, as ‘No Wake’  zone means a different thing to different captains.  😁 



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We have been staged here while Lagoon has pondered whether they will cover a repair we need under warranty and we got word this past week that the boatyard has approval to go ahead and will schedule soon, yah!


Who knew living on a boat could be so exhausting, retirement isn’t what we imagined, but Rob did get to have a beer the other evening. 😂 Living aboard is definitely an adjustment. We are way more cognizant of power, water consumption and the bog. But so far all easily managed. Our LI batteries will get stressed when we have to resort to air conditioning at night; apparently we can run 1 stateroom for 10 hrs.  Of course we have an oversized generator so we will run that if needed. Our generator can handle all our appliances simultaneously so someone can use the hairdryer to dry her hair while making water, running the washing machine and cooking dinner all at the same time. Not bad!


We are very chuffed with ourselves as we managed to replaced the anchor chain - a 300lb chunk of rusted junk; about 50' of it was usable. Nothing is easy when you are docked in the middle of Fort Lauderdale with no mates to help with heavy lifting. We cut the old chain into manageable pieces after beating it into submission. Of course the only tool available was a manual hacksaw - do you still know how to use one of these? Walking the new chain to the boat after parking on the street was the next challenge. But now we have 300' of anchor chain and 100' of rope married to our 75lb Rocna anchor, maybe Rob will sleep at night?


The other big accomplishment was getting the cushion covers washed - both in and outdoors. Again a challenge: a drive to a laundromat for the outdoor cushions and renting a steam cleaner from Home Depot for indoor ones. The boat is 230 volt power so that required a search for a suitable location to get the steam cleaner idea to work. We have a 110volt 1000 watt DC/AC invertor which is a little light to run the steam cleaner. While hanging out at the laundromat doing the cleaning, another boat owner walked by and provided this input: ‘buy a boat they said, it would be fun they said’. 😁 Drying the cushions in a local park also raised a few eyebrows - were we homeless? Next on the list: washing the curtains without an iron onboard, maybe wrinkled will now be the new look?


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Rob has had time to delve into the vessel’s systems - lots to learn, and has replaced many inventoried items. The next challenge is changing the oil on the 2 engines & sail drives - the inventor of YouTube should be provided with copious quantities of alcohol, or chocolate, for life. 


Work so far: 

- replaced the 2 starting batteries

- replaced anchor chain 

- running rigging inspected - replaced soft shackles on the main sheet block, code zero block on top of the halyard

- cleaned the generator pan - full of salt - found the leak and double clamped the errant water hose

- replaced seals on 3 heads 

- EPIRBs reprogrammed (we were in the wrong industry! A bazillion for 10 minute parameter change)


Our punch list seems endless; take an item off add 2 more. Yeah, boat ownership - what were we thinking 🤔 


Off to have a cocktail… hopefully we will be out of here soon so you can join us; we need Guinea pigs for the guest quarters. Gerda has a prescription for her seasick magic, she can share so that is not an excuse.


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