Changing Latitudes - Post Script — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip $0, daily high temperature 83°f, boats sold – one.

Here is a blog posting to bring you up to date on the crew of Changing Latitudes activities post Loop.

Living on dirt was an easy transition. We completed our Loop trip on September 17 and proceeded to haul at least 12 cart loads of “stuff” off the boat. We could finally see her water line.

Anxious to assimilate back into Waukegan society I accepted an invitation to go fishing with Jeff and Stacy and put a few fish in the boat. Jeff doesn’t have a fish weighing scale on his boat. That way no one can challenge his estimate on the weight of the fish caught. He admitted this was the first time he wished he did have a scale. Best guess is this is a 30 pound Lake Trout.

No time was wasted getting CL buffed, waxed and detailed. Chris Weber of Weber Yachts had lined up a viewing on Friday so we had to pay extra to use the boat detailer who had time start the detailing on September 19. In three days CL looked like new. A full year of diesel soot was buffed off and her hull gleamed like the day she left the Cruisers Yachts factory. On Friday Chris called and advised he would not be back from a sea trial on another boat in Sturgeon Bay in time to conduct the tour of CL. No worries, I met the prospective buyers and gave them the tour. They were conflicted as to whether they wanted a boat with an open stern or an enclosed stern like CL. The buyers are two couples. What could be more right? By Sunday night we had accepted their offer and on Monday they provided the deposit. The $4,600 detailing was well spent.

Our only remaining issue on CL is repairing the generator. When the generator broke down in Canada we had the Cummins techs diagnose the problem as a broken spring in the fuel injector pump. When the Cummins tech arrived on CL in Waukegan I told him the diagnosis. He proceeded to spend two hours trying to get the computer codes on the generator to tell him that the issue is the fuel injector pump. As a last resort he removed the fuel injector pump and stated – “look at this, the spring in the fuel injector pump is broken.” My response was “really.” Dale would have been proud. That is his favorite word of all time. So now we are waiting for the replacement part to arrive and be installed. In order to move ahead with the sale we agreed to a $5,000 escrow. Even Cummins couldn’t charge us more than $4,000 for a simple repair. You can get better service but you can’t pay more.

CL is as bright and shiny as new. She will never be this clean again.

In the mean time life goes on. Dale and Andy are back in their dirt dwelling. John and Priscilla are living in JP and Rachel’s basement.

We enjoyed a wonderful day of apple picking with our granddaughter Eleanor.

We extended the lease on our home until April because we will spend the majority of our time this winter at our condo in Stuart, Fl. It was very exciting for a few days as hurricane Mathew barreled down on Florida. The weather channel identified Stuart as ground zero for the hurricane. Fortunately Mathew stayed out to sea and we had no damage.

Notice where the Weather Channel placed the arrow at ground zero – Stuart.

The sale of the boat was completed on October 11. The new owners moved CL to Milwaukee and the Cummins tech will complete the generator repair on October 24. Kudos to Chris Weber of Weber Yachts who sold our boat 3.5 weeks after we completed the Loop.

John and Priscilla drove to Florida and spent two days visiting Dick and Candy Smith in Mount Dora. That breaks up the trip so we do not arrive at our condo in Stuart in the dark.

Dick and Candy Smith at the Highlands restaurant in Mount Dora, Fl.

Bonus photo – we were able to put a check mark next to America’s Great Loop on our bucket list.

Our friend Gabe invited us to go cruising on his Island Packet 485 for 10 days. Winds look favorable for a cruise from Miami to Key West in time for Fantasy Fest.

Our boating carreer is not over. My Pearson 39 sailboat spent the summer indoors at Larsen Marine. She is now outside and covered for the winter. Boating adventures will continue when Blue Heaven splashes in the spring of 2017.

Blue Heaven looks like a blue whale in her winter cover.

Fair winds and following seas gentle readers.