Back on the water again, finally.......off to the Bahamas

[Gazmn]

Godspeed Sumner

[cptron]

As always cant wait to read all about your trip so post back often. Wish we could join you but have that work thing to get rid of first. Maybe in about 8 years.

[Tomfoolery]

Glad to see you back on the water. Keep us posted, as some of us (ok, me ) live vicariously through others' adventures.

[gabid]

Fair winds and following seas!

[BOAT]

Send GPS Coordinates!

[Sumner]

Thanks for all the good wishes guys!!

I got in the water Monday morning and left the yard about 1 and went about 3 miles to the small lake on the canal system on the way out to the bay and anchored for the night. The night before I woke up at 2:30 with a really bad sore throat and by morning is was a full blown cold, I think the first in about 6 years. I felt terrible but decide to let them put me in and the reason for not going far. Still suffering from it but it hasn't gotten worst. Yesterday I put in about 35 miles down to Placida which is only about 7 miles from the yard by land. A friend from the yard, Scott and his dog, came down today and we went out.

No wind at first but then it went up to 12-15 and we sailed a total of about 25 miles on long tacks on Charlotte Harbor and almost all the way back to Placida. The best sail I ever had with the boat running a little over 6 mph for a lot of that and that is towing the dinghy and the boat is loaded very heavy sitting about 2-3 inches deeper in the water than stock. I learned some things from Scott so that was good.

Scott left his phone on the boat so in the morning I'll run the boat over to the shore so he can get it and then head about 10 miles south to Pelican Bay and maybe stay there a day or two until hopefully I feel better and have more energy. Then I'll start south.

The added solar has worked great and I ran the trolling motor on the small lake the first night but only for a few minutes as I felt so bad. In that short test it looked like the 360 watts of panels could keep up with the motor running about 2 mph but the sun conditions and such were not constant and I didn't run long enough to come to any conclusions. 2 mph was about 25% throttle if I remember right, but hope to get more data over the next month or so. The trolling motor had no problem pushing the Mac faster than 2 mph but I didn't test for top speed yet.

The added 360 watts of solar though with 120 watts of it...

http://1fatgmc.com/boat/mac-1/mac-outsi ... age-1.html

.... switchable between the house bank and the trolling motor bank has been added insurance that I shouldn't have to run the 12 volt gen-set although I did start it about a week ago just to make sure it still ran ok. I can also switch the trolling motor bank to the house loads if needed with two switches that then divides the 24 volt bank into 2 additional 12 volt batteries but haven't needed that as the house bank is keeping up fine with the fridge, computer and CPAP machine and tops off each day so far and hasn't gone below 65% or so.

So if I can just kick the worst part of this cold life will be good but I kind of forgot how much work went into doing this on a day to day schedule,

Sumner

============================
Our MacGregor 26-S

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[ris]

Hope you get to feeling better. Have always enjoyed fishing inside and outside to the south of pelican bay. Have fun, we enjoyed our time with you last Saturday.

[shanker]

Hope you feel better Sum. Enjoy the trip, I look forward to your reports.

I must say, a couple of those pictures of the cockpit with all those solar panels reminds me of a satellite

Shanker

[BOAT]

Wear one of those warm jackets.

[Sumner]

Had a great day today, feeling much better the cold medicine is sure helping. Scott forgot his phone in the boat so first thing I had to take the Mac back into the restaurant dock at 9:30 and give it to him. I didn't look forward to that as I almost had an incident there the day before dropping him and his dog off. Went in for a port tie so flipped the outboard solar panel on that side over onto the center panels. That worked fine but getting off the dock wasn't so good. Backed out a ways and then went forward and almost caught the starboard side panel on a piling like I did at Marco Island some years ago. So when I went in this morning I flipped them both over as it takes less than a minute to do it and then didn't have any problems at all. I'll still play it safe in the future. I mounted all the panels now so they are inboard of the rub-rail except for the two outer ones that I can drop down or flip over.

I know there was some concern about the panels putting more weight up high. The new 360 watts of panels and framework is about 150 lbs. and the old 200 watts is probably 100. I can tell no difference and yesterday sailing we had the boat heeled better than 20 degrees and it was rock solid sailed like that with a full main and the 135 genoa all the way out. Scott also agreed that the panels were not hurting a thing, especially for a cruiser which is all I'm interested in. He has had a number of boats and has a 37 footer in the yard and was impressed with the Mac.

I've really enjoyed the shade the panels are giving and so far see no negative with the mod. My batteries are much happier and aren't going under 60-65% charge. I am running two Trojan 6 volt batteries in series for the house band and have the trolling motor bank of two 12 volt batteries also that can be tied to the house bank but haven't needed to do that.

After dropping Scott's phone off I was going to go to Pelican Bay (about 10 miles) to rest up. I was able to motor sail almost all the way there with the outboard just off idle and only the Genoa out. I didn't want to try and run the main as I was doing this in the ICW channel with some traffic. About Pelican Bay the wind had shifted more to the south and the sailing was done but I felt so much better that I just kept going and going. Ran down the ICW at about 5 mph and went out into the Gulf under the Sanibel Bridge. I was going to try anchoring not too far from it but the wind still had waves running in from the Gulf so dropped that Idea and went a little further going in at Ft. Myers Beach and I'm just inside the inlet where Ruth and I anchored on our trip here.

So since Monday, also counting the day of sailing, I have 105 miles under the keel at this point, with today's run being almost 45 miles. I plan on getting up early and getting out into the Gulf and head 35-40 miles on down to Marco Island off-shore. Winds are suppose to be 10-12 out of the east and then switching to south with 2 foot seas. If that holds I should be able to sail until they swing around to the south.

If all of that happens I'll try and post there. On a side note I'm posting this tonight using the long distance WiFi on board....

http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... index.html

...and have a great connection and using the computer I built some years back. Last night lots of connections but none open so used the trackphone hotspot I bought,

Sumner

============================
Our MacGregor 26-S

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[Chinook]

Hi Sum,

Glad things are going well. You've got some great water ahead. If you're interested in seeing gators, we made a dinghy run up the Broad River when we were down there, and saw lots of them along the banks. Also, nice anchorage at Pavilion Key, near the east end if I recall. Further west you have drying mud at low tide. Great shelling there also. Be careful if you run up to Everglades City. The current runs strong there, and you have lots of air boats to dodge. Good anchorage at Little Shark River, which most cruising boats passing that area tend to use.

Best regards, Mike

[BOAT]

My uncle has a house on the water at Marco Island but I don't think he has a dock. I'm gonna call him to see if he has a dock.

[Sumner]

Hi Sum,

Glad things are going well. You've got some great water ahead. If you're interested in seeing gators, we made a dinghy run up the Broad River when we were down there, and saw lots of them along the banks. Also, nice anchorage at Pavilion Key, near the east end if I recall. Further west you have drying mud at low tide. Great shelling there also. Be careful if you run up to Everglades City. The current runs strong there, and you have lots of air boats to dodge. Good anchorage at Little Shark River, which most cruising boats passing that area tend to use.

Best regards, Mike

Thanks for the tip on the Broad River, I'll look at that but want to spend at least one day at White Horse Key....



.... north of Everglades City in the 10,000 Islands. We were only there one day on the other trip and I swore I was going to come back and spend a day reading a book there on the beach so that is on the plans. When I thought I was going to get in a couple weeks earlier I wanted to spend more time in the 10,000 Islands and Everglades area but being late I need to work to the east coast about as fast as possible.

I know about those currents going into Everglades City, almost hit a marker in the channel at one of the turns. We also spent the night at Little Shark and I'll do the same before jumping over to the Keys. Lots and lots of mosquitoes there. The only time I ever used my hat with the net on it and I have it aboard again.

Looks like I'm going to sit the day out here at Ft. Myers Beach as they just upped the winds to 15 to 20 knots between here and Marco with 2-3 foot seas and some small craft warnings. The winds were suppose to be around 12 from the east but now are predicted to be SSE so it would be all motoring into them. I could use the day to reorganize the boat and map out on paper better where things are in it. The whole rear berth is full . I label all the containers but need to map the containers on paper.

I can also plot the next 5 steps of the trip out so I have all those waypoints saved and can just pull them up and a day of just resting would probably do me good. I tend to plod ahead sometimes when I shouldn't of so this is also a lesson in patience for me so when I get to the east coast I'm patient about crossing the Gulf Stream.

My uncle has a house on the water at Marco Island but I don't think he has a dock. I'm gonna call him to see if he has a dock.

Thanks for looking into that buy I have an easy place to anchor there and that is easier for me to do vs. tying up and dealing with the lines to handle the tides and such. Where I anchor it is also just a...



http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... -11-7.html

... short distance over to the fuel dock and this time I'll go there with the dinghy vs. the Mac . I appreciate the effort though,

Sumner

============================
Our MacGregor 26-S

Our Endeavour 37

Our Trips to Utah, Idaho, Canada, Florida

Mac-Venture Links

[BOAT]

I HATE those mosquitoes!! I have never seen so many mosquitoes in my life than what came at me in Florida - Pine Island was the worst and Fort Meyers. I just don't know how those people can live with all those mosquitoes - I could never live there. Isn't there a way to kill all the mosquitoes in Florida with a gas or something? We had mosquitoes on Sugar Loaf Key but it was not near as bad. It seemed to me that the mosquitoes at the keys were not as bad as the ones everywhere else. If I had to live in Florida I guess I would live on the Keys.

You have a good boat there.

[mrron_tx]

Sumner , glad to hear You are feeling better And it sounds like You are well on Your way , and with a plan I admit it.... I am jealous. But I will follow Your wake before too long Fair winds Ron. Dauntless.