Raymond and Lelina Return to Davis Island!!!

DAVIS ISLAND, TAMPA

Davis Island, Joe's houseboat in background

Thar be dolphins

Dolphin breaching

February 14, 2006.

BACK TO DAVIS ISLAND, TAMPA, FL

February 9, 2006. So we finally got our Pearson 38 in the water on Thursday, Feb. 9. We had the boat put in the boatlift earlier in the day so we could drop our centerboard for the first time and hopefully get some bottom paint on it. It took nearly an hour to finally break it free from all the sand and mud that was clogged up in the trunk. But we got it down and painted it. Then, at about 6 pm, we splashed it. No leaks! It wasn't actually floating, it was sitting on the bottom. We had to wait until 9 pm when the tide would be high enough for us to be afloat. Then we moved it by hand to the slip next to the boat launch bay so we would have enough water to get out of the marina the next day. Our engine is in but not yet functional.

Morning came. The day's high tide was after 1 pm so we took the time to secure the mast to the deck. We'll get all the rigging in order and have it lifted into place at Davis Island when we're ready. It took some serious pulling but we got over the infamous hump in front of the launch bay and then pulled it up next to Win and Kristy's boat. We tied our bow to their stern and they towed us out of the marina and up to Davis Island. The trip lasted from about noon to 7 pm. We met up with Jason and the five of us; Win, Kristy, Jason, Rocky and I went to an Italian restaurant on Davis Island that we had been to before. We were planning on going out to Ybor City for drinks but it was already after 9 pm and we were all pretty tired. So we all went back to our boats. It was nice to finally be back in the water.

SPLASHING AND TOWING THE BOAT TO DAVIS ISLAND

Coming up on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge

Dolphins off the starboard bow

Sunset

Johnny B on the bow

Johnny B during the tow to Davis Island

Splashing the Pearson

Almost ready to be towed to Davis Island

Almost ready...

Putting the mast on horizontally

IT'S IN THE WATER- SPLASHED!

The Pearson in the lift

The drop keel

Splashing the boat at Cortez Cove Marina

Rocky on the Pearson

Rocky releasing the drop keel

February 10, 2006

LIFTING THE NEW ENGINE

The "Goodbye everyone because our rates are going through the roof" party

The Pearson 38

Rocky overseeing the engine lift

Rocky and engine

The Beast

New engine!

So,
Pat McCartin
Inland Marine Diesel
Buford, GA
404-513-4414
Service and parts for all diesel auxiliaries
Sales of Yanmar, Westerbeke/Universal,
and Beta Marine.
Generators from,
Fischer-Panda and Westerbeke
Mermaid Marine Air Conditioning

He was nice enough to deliver our new 'used' engine from Georgia! Ok, so he was comming to St. Pete anyway... He brought the first rain we have seen in weeks. He got trapped by floods and falling roofs along the way, but arrived safely.

The engine is a Universal M25.
Thanks Pat!

New Bottom Paint Today.. Horray

CORTEZ COVE MARINA, CORTEZ, FL

Jan. 15. Low Tide From The Far Dock

Jan. 15. Joe Making Sure

Johnny B's Got His Ears On

January 15

The 40 HP Yanmar That Didn't Fit

Jan. 19. Johnny B and

Deleted due to paranoid schizophrenia

Working Below

Jan. 19. Sunset From The Far Dock

Jan. 25. After 4 Coats of White Paint

Jan. 25. The Beautiful Painted Transom

Jan. 25. After The Second Coat of White Paint

The Bow Peak being Reborn

Just Before The First Coat of Paint

Johnny B In The Cockpit

Rocky and Johnny B Applying The First Coat

Johnny B Mixing Paint

Jan. 12 to Feb. 1, 2006. Rocky and I got right to work on the boat after my vacation. Our friend,

Deleted due to paranoid schizophrenia

When I first got back to Cortez, FL, Rocky, Michael, Jason and I took a road trip to Pensacola, FL, 7 hours away, to pick up a 40 HP diesel engine for our boat. The seller had limited information regarding the engine's dimensions so we took a chance and went to pick it up. It turned out to be too big to fit our boat so we resold it on ebay. We've got another engine that we know will fit being delivered here on Friday, Feb. 3. We were hoping to get our boat out of the yard and into the water by the first of the month to avoid the skyrocketing rates here at the marina since they officially opened the boat yard. We had our boat delivered here from Ft. Pierce on the Atlantic coast several months before the yard officially opened for business. The dry storage rates (having a boat in the yard) are increasing monthly from $12/foot/month to $15 to $20 to $25 by March 1 so it's definitely time to get in the water.

We'll be securing our mast on the deck and then get towed back to Davis Island Yacht Basin where we spent last summer. There, we can get all of our rigging in order before raising our mast by way of leverage between two other boats while we're at achor there. That should be interesting. We have many friends at Davis Island and although we can't wait to head down to Central America, it'll be nice to spend some more time with them.