In Kemah Waterford Marina - Week 5

How can you spend so much time getting things done and still have a lot to do. Buy a Boat. But the list of done is larger than the list of to do. And having said that, we are ready to leave. Looks like the weather might cooperate and we are provisioned out. Will go on a test run tomorrow checking everything and giving our nieces a ride around the bay  in the boat. Clean the boat fill the water Monday, meet our friends that just returned from Fla in their boat on Tuesday and then watch the weather for the next leg on the way to New York. Of course the next task is to  get thru La. Got lots of help and ideas from our friends so hope that makes the trip better (if you can't tell this is the one part of the trip -at least right now- that i wish  was already over). Hope when it is that we will say "Gosh that wasn't so bad, Sure glad we got all that info from our buddies".

So when we leave, we will turn on the SPOT and the plan is to anchor out each night (4) until we get to Intercoastal City. There we will fuel up, spend one or two days getting things done and then procede on to the second half of LA.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Cheers

Carol and Steve

In Kemah Waterford Marina - Week 4

Burrrrrrrrrrr - it was still cold BUT today looks like the end of the real cold stuff. Weather guessers are saying this is the end of the Artic fronts as the weather patterns are to shift this week. Hope so as we are sure the rest of our Texas/Flordia Friends are. While we would have rather been down the ICW (east that is) farther, we have enjoyed staying here, got a lot done, and we survived the cold probably a lot better than if we would have been on the hook somewhere or moving between anchorages. We looked at the calendar this morning and decided that we are using next week to clean up any unfinished projects and the boat especially the engine room. Will visit with our friends that are returning to Seabrook today  in their trawler Lindsey  from a trip to Flordia. They promise lot of info we can use on our trip but we will be glad to see them and to listen to their tales (all true of course). Going to provision out on the 18th, take the boat out with the nieces for a test run the 19th and then wait for a weather pattern that will get us through LA. So NY (sometime) here we come.

This last week found us trying to fix the bimini. Found that on the boat it is best to limit sewing to repairs of an emergency nature. Not enough room etc. etc. etc. Wound up taking the complete bimini to a loft to get repaired and restitched. Got most of the planned chores done and a couple we thought were done re-done as we added things doing new chores.

We are getting ready to go again. Hope all is well with everyone and it is getting warmer whereever you are.

Steve & Carol

Kemah Waterford - Week 3

BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR - Damn it got cold as it did in CC- Knew it was going to get cold but did not really know the extent and the Marina shut off the water. Lucky we filled up the tanks right after we got here so we are still ok except Carol is behind in her Laundry. Water won't be back on probably till Monday but we still will be fine. Did not get a lot done but kept warm which was the main thing. Did have a nice visit with our nieces (one of them left us their Pickup as he has a company car) and our sister-in-law. Did get the Auto pilot connected to the Garmin GPS and it works at least from the dock all tests out good. Plan on going out in the bay Sunday to test all the fixes and give the girls/guys a ride, that is if the weather holds.

The cold and rain and ice gave us a bit of time to catch up on some paperwork including the adraft of our income tax. one of the items we did is measure and calculate the fuel usage. Well for the sailboat people we used a LOT of fuel but the boat is using what we thought and the owner told us. Each engine uses about 2 gal / hour at 2100 rpm which equates to arround 6 to 8 knts. the generator is using 3/4 to 1 gal/hr depending on how many heaters we have on.

So looks like this week will be ok and we will get the bimini fixed, the area around the cabin door cleaned, recalked/ or ?? and hope to get the leak cured there and around the windless. Also get some parts to fix the dingy motor and attach a different depth finder to the Garmin and be able to test run all the fixes on a warm (70 degree) sunny Sunday.

Our plans now look like we leave here the last week in Feb. We are expecting a friend to return from Fla next/or the week after and we want to see them and get all the latest scoop from them on the ICW from here through LA.

Well thats all from here for now. We are well, the boat is great, the marina/slip we are in is good as when the wind blows at 40 we feel around 10 max unless it is from the west.

Our best to all

Steve & Carol