Our original intent was to fly into Florida December 29 and spend a few days prepping the boat, getting batteries and an inverter installed, get our dinghy, and depart January 2.

Obviously, we have not yet left and are still in Florida on Matt’s dock (Lil Sudden). A few things came up preventing our departure:

Toilet Explosion Our toilets are on a VacuFlush system. The bellows broke, spilling sewage into our engine room and causing countless hours of cleanup. Due to the tight fit, and all other things we’ve had to work on we decided to hire someone to fix it, but unfortunately while the system is operational, it is far from ideal.

Finding A Place for Everything. Prior to arriving in Florida, we had numerous items ordered from Amazon delivered to Matt’s house in Cape Coral versus shipping from home. This resulted in many boxes both on the boat and in the house. We had to spend a few days unpacking and finding places to put the items. We were able to find creative storage spaces under the beds, couches, and floor boards. Additional time was needed to measure cabinet spaces and find appropriate shelving/storage to fit these spaces. One creative idea was installing a magnet to store the knives as we didn’t have counter space for a knife block. Additional items needed to be installed including TVs and cameras. After all the unpacking and shopping, everything has a place and the boat looks so much nicer.

Dinghy Disaster The dinghy we were expecting to purchase and use did not work out. The story of that event can be found here and ends in Boris and Matt being towed to shore. It was a challenge finding a replacement dinghy due to Hurricane Ian. We even attended the local Boat Show in hopes of finding one for sale. In the end, we had to purchase a new dinghy and wait for its delivery.

Delay in Matt’s Boat Matt’s boat was in the boatyard getting bottom paint and other work done. She was delayed by many days and it took 2 additional days to get her to Cape Coral after the work was complete. We were waiting for both boats to be present in order to install a battery and inverter system.

Battery and Inverter Installation Boats here rarely have an inverter to charge the batteries; most people constantly run their generator, which uses fuel. We opted to have an inverter system designed so that our batteries could charge while under way and have batteries that would charge quickly (with generator or invertor). Our boat/mechanic friend flew down from Seattle to assist with the installation; however, the 2-day project ended up taking more than a week to complete.

Bad Weather We were hit with a cold front with temperatures as low as 50 degrees, high wind, and rain/lightning. This slowed us down with the battery install and our departure. Thankfully it has warmed up and we have sunny weather for the next week.

Random things Breaking Part of boating is various items constantly breaking. We had to repair the air conditioner and water tank leak. Thankfully both were quick repairs. We also have one engine leaking a little oil and anticipate additional projects arising.

All projects are wrapping up and the goal is to now depart Wednesday January 18, 2023 towards the Atlantic side of Florida. Tuesday will be spent cleaning up the tools and equipment and ensuring everything works.