Endeavour day

It's wintertime in Florida, they say. The high today will be in the upper-50s and the low in the mid-40s. Yes, I'm complaining because, dang it, this is Florida! In a couple of days we'll be back in the 70s, so there's that. Sorry Ohioans.

Sunset in at Regatta Pointe

With the cold weather came some winds, which isn't great news for us. Winds = waves. Our appointment with Endeavour is Thursday morning. We hoped to head over there this afternoon and be ready when they open at 7:30 am. Unless things settle a bit we're going to wait until tomorrow morning, heading out a first light.

We have a number of marine weather sources now so when I say "the weather isn't ideal", it's just that. Winds at 10 knots (the fair-weather guides tell us less than 15 is good), and waves less than 2 feet. Light chop. In other words, the boat will handle it just fine, some would say it's even perfect. I'm the cranky one. I like my water smooth.

We've been doing a number of other repairs. Our current mystery in the

Logo? Depends on carvers.

generator. It tends not to work. At the dock it isn't an issue, since we're plugged into shore power. On the water, however, it is, especially long journeys, say, to Key West. If you want any power (or AC) you need the generator make it. We've done a number of things (replaced the impeller, replaced a clogged L-joint) but haven't really nailed it. We have a specialist, Rian, working on it now. If he isn't successful, it will be added to the Endeavour list.

Meanwhile, I'm distracting myself with getting our boat name put on the boat. We need to remove all the old decals, which are peeling anyway and look terrible. Currently the name Knot 4 Sailing is in three locations; both sides and the transom on the back. The transom is a regulation so no option there (which is silly for us since the dingy blocks it but there you go). We decided to keep our sides decal-less and white. We're thinking custom-made plaques that we affix to the railing on the fly deck would look better. Being a bit fussy, I'd like those fonts (the transom decal and the plaques) to match. I'm awaiting info from the carvers.

Update: Rian just left and the generator still isn't working. That said, we have a much better idea why and it should be an easy fix for the Endeavour folks. 

One of the sail cats Rian built -- love their looks

While chatting with Rian (who used to work for Endeavour and built some of these gorgeous 42 foot Mantas we see around) we got on the topic of sail versus power cats. I thought the sail versions could outrun us, but he said no. Our boat should be able to go 18 knots(!). We'd only ever kept it around 10 knots, or 2100 - 2400 rpm. He said our engines were turbo, and needed to be pushed full on for an hour or so every day in use. Interesting! I was a bit depressed that our boat only went as fast as a Segway. Now I'm looking forward to the crossing tomorrow. Let's open these babies up!

Note: The pictured sail-cat is named It's 5 O'clock Somewhere and everytime I look at it I get that song stuck in my head. Been singing it for days now. "Pour me something tall and strong, make it a hurricane before I go insane..."