Trip report: Dry Tortugas 3 weeks and then Port St Joe 1 week

[swiftibis]

Hello all,
I wanted to point anybody interested to my blog which has trip reports from my 1100 nm trip from Destin to Dry Tortugas and back via Florida's West coast on my Pearson 367 Tardis. This was my first major offshore adventure and everything went swimmingly. I also recently did a week trip to Port St Joe over a week which was a good but cold trip. http://svtardis.blogspot.com/

As a result of my trips I've had a chance to re-evaluate my boat and decide what I think important in life. I live aboard full time and really hope to do annual trips down south which my job seems to permit. In the not so far future I would really like to sail to Europe but I would prefer to not do it solo and good crew is hard to come by  .  This has led me to add the following things to Tardis since I returned from my sailing trips:
Replacement of EVERY incandescent bulb with LED: Spreader lights, nav lights, anchor lights, interior lights, etc.  I also have spares onboard
Addition of 4xCaframo fans to the interior
Replacement of VHF with Standard Horizon GX2200 MATRIX AIS/GPS Fixed Mount VHF Radio and RAM mic
Addition of EPIRB, outfitted ditch bag
Replacement of engine muffler, addition of no-water exhaust hose overheat sensor.
Replacement of old Raytheon Pathfinder Radar and C70 chartplotter with new Raymarine e7D chartplotter and RD418D digital radar.  MY AIS VHF and autopilot will be connected to the chartplotter
Replacement of Xantrax 1500W modified sine inverter (which smoked) with Go Power 1500W pure sine inverter
Replacement of all lifelines with 1x19 SS rigging that is not covered by the vinyl
I made new 4" cockpit cushions out of Textilene fabric and dryfast foam
4x new speakers for boat stereo system inside and outside
Voltage booster for Ham HF radio. It had problems TX due to low battery voltage, and this fixed everything and reduced signal noise!
Replace Windex at masthead

As you can see, I've put a good bit of money and effort into my boat after my trips, but I feel more than ever that the boat is in good condition and is ready for another major trip. It also makes me immensely happy to have a vessel that is so nice and capable. This is literally the boat that I've been dreaming of for years and after completing a decent trip with no problems I am very excited about my future. I look forward to a summer of weekend trips East and West, and I hope that by next winter travel to Cuba will be allowed easily.

One thing that I'm seriously considering is removing the clubfoot boom and going to a free jib with some sort of tracks. While it is immensely convenient to have the boom, that is the location that I want to put my dinghy as it is not safe while offshore in the davits.  I sailed my trips with it wedged cattycorner on the cabin top which was not ideal. I will put serious thought into this before I remove anything. I learned that the staysail is for upwind use only when also flying the big jib, and I learned that my drifter is my favorite sail to keep moving in frequent light winds. On the other hand in heavy winds, rolling in the big jib is my first reef point, and the little jib is perfect to keep the boat balanced.  I'm looking to buy a bigger drifter or asymmetrical with a sock.

Dr. Capt. Mike
S/V Tardis, Pearson 367 Cutter #26

[Della and Dave]

Sounds like a great trip.  I liked your comment about the -5 sleeping bag. Those of us up here in the great white north get pissed about those marketing manes.  If you ever actually needed to stay outside in -5 in a bag like that, you would loose parts to frost bite. I think we should drop the marketing guy that made that claim off on an ice flow at -5 with his bag for a week. 

Good to see you are getting Tardis shaken out.  We have been doing the LED replacement, but so far we have only gotten the hard ones, starting at the top with the anchor light and spreader lights. I think cabin lights are next.  Which ones did you use, and what did you think of them? I don't know if it's worth the money to go with something like Dr. LED, or just the cheap ones from Home Depot.   

[swiftibis]

Hello Della and Dave,
I searched Ebay for suitable masthead and nav lights.  I think I spent 10$ for the all-round masthead bulb because it has like 60 led's, but I also bought 2x others for 3$ each.  The nav lights were more common and were about 1$ each so if the salt kills them I won't be upset. The spreader lights are Par 36 LED replacement bulbs I got off amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CBYCZT2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). If they keep functioning then I'll be happy.  They are incredibly bright and only burn 1.4A combined.  They really light up the deck and make nighttime sail handling safer, assuming I'm offshore and don't immediately require night vision. Also when I have visitors at night I just leave them on, 1.4A is nothing.  I think Dr. LED is terribly overpriced, at a 10X to 30X price increase over what I see on Ebay. The quality can't be that good.  Ooh and a little trick, drip candle wax over the bulbs and that should reduce corrosion.
Cheers!
Dr. Capt. Mike
S/V Tardis, Pearson 367 Cutter #26

[SVJourney]

Della & Dave,
We changed to LED in a very simple way by changing the mast head and anchor lights and most of the lights in the cabin with these:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BA15D-1142-68-SMD-3528-bulb-Interior-light-LED-Car-Light-Warm-White-DC-12V-/261149775150?pt=US_Car_Lighting&hash=item3ccdbd552e

$5:00 each and we have spares aboard if they don't last long. (its been 2 years of live aboard use and haven't burned one up yet)  This made a huge difference on our power usage, esp the anchor light.  Make sure that you get the right ones by looking at the contacts in your fixtures.  The ones shown here have one contact for +12V and the other contact for ground.  Yours might be single contact.

We did replace a couple fixtures to the West marine brand ones as Dana was working there at the time. I think that retail was $55 each, but we love them.  White and red overhead fixtures.

[Della and Dave]

Thanks.  As luck would have it, we ordered last night before I read your post, so we have G4 LED bulbs from Cruising solutions coming for our interior lights.  They are cheaper than Dr. LED by half, and came recommended by practical Sailor review.  They seem like good quality.  We'll see how they work out. Our overhead lights are the G4 style bipin bulbs, so the type you mentioned from eBay wouldn't work for interior lighting on Polaris, but it's good to know. 

Wayne: Hope you are having a blast with the Turtles, the Galápagos Islands are no. 1 on my bucket list!   Good luck on the next long jump. 

We did our spreader lights last year when we did our standing rigging along with tricolor and anchor lights.  For the spreader, we used the Dr. LED Kevin Jr. while they work quite well and are low power, .8amp each, the mount doesn't allow them to be pointed directly down, so one is a little forward, and one is a little aft.  They really are nice, well sealed and come with a spec to operate at low temps, but pretty expensive, about $100 each.  (Some LEDs won't light in negative temperatures, and up here, that is when it's dark.) Prices are falling on LEDs rapidly.

[SVJourney]

Della & Dave,

We are definitely having fun with the turtles.  And the sea lions and the penguins and the boobies and... this place is a nature wonderland.  Good times were had and now we are looking at doing the jump to the Marquesas tomorrow or the next day.  Time to see what 4 weeks at sea are like.   

Wayne

[Della and Dave]

Sounds like a great adventure.  We are hoping to follow in your wake in about 4 years.  Down the west coast from Alaska, then cut across.  Not sure about the routing, but the Galapagos is on the agenda.  We hear the the Pitcarn islands are neat too.  We have some friends in Malaysia as well.  Don't know about the Suez Canal, seems a little to warm right now.  Are you going all the way around, or haven't made up your mind yet? 

[SVJourney]

We have totally hijacked this thread.  Sorry to the OP. 

We plan to spend 2 years in the pacific and then decide.  I'm betting that we end up selling the boat in Australia rather than go round about.  South Africa doesn't interest us as a sailing destination and the Suez is still too much of a problem.  See what happens though, best laid plans and all that.

[Verne]

So, this is a little late for a reply.  But, I am have been a trifle busy and lacked focus on mutual communications. Let me just say, for the record, having not even taken an overnight trip yet on Deja Vu our 367, this reading made my day. I want to eventually take her down to the Turks and Caicos to Provo, where I got married on the beach in I think it was Grace Bay or Grace Beach.  Looks like she will get me there if I study up and get some time to know her and improve on seamanship.

Verne