A new year begins, new destinations await
by SV Crystal Blues 7 Jan 2018 04:39 UTC
Christmas Hobe Sound © SV Crystal Blues
You know you're getting older when your favourite local radio station is called The Real Oldies. Whatever happened to K-Rock, Planet Rock, or KIISS and the like? They all drifted into pop sameness, or repetitive rapping, is what happened..... and I stopped listening.
Here in Florida we had a great Christmas, listening to The Real Oldies on the rental car radio, pulling together the supplies and parts we needed and then celebrating with friends at Hobe Sound, north of Palm Beach.
George & Nancy Marvin, OCC Port Officers for the region, kindly invited us to share Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Luncheon with them - a fine group of cruisers were there, so spirits were high and endless dreams and lies circulated the table.
George & Nancy also kindly acted as a delivery point for our many parcels in the weeks before and after Christmas. Once those goodies were in hand we settled down to a sequence of repairs and service jobs onboard Crystal Blues.
The toughest project was replacing the heater hoses that snake their way through the boat from the engine to the hot water service. The old hose had been installed 12 years ago and was starting to crack - we'd found and repaired two leaks in the past 6 months.
So out it came, which took a day, and then the new silicone rubber hose went in, which took a couple of days - there is about 70 feet of hose in the circuit. For good measure we flushed and cleaned the cooling circuit in the engine, and replaced the coolant in the system.
Both the Northern Lights genset and the Cummins main engine were due for injector servicing, so we gave both engines a treat and installed new (actually re-built) injectors. Both machines are running silky smooth now, aided by the recent valve lash adjustment - you really can tell the difference.
The Cummins was also rewarded with a new Walker AirSep Filter system, the original item having passed it's use-by date - 12 years was a good run. All in all the boat did real well in the Christmas gift department.
As to those radio stations, we also spent a day installing a new FM radio antenna connection - then scrolled right past the local Spanish and rock / pop channels to settle on Legends Radio, a local jazz oriented station. Bliss.
Hopefully we'll be well ahead on the service and maintenance items when we leave here, and can spend time relaxing in the Bahamas soon. The cold weather that is impacting us should pass in a couple of days, and we're hoping for a clear weather window early next week for passage to the Bahamas.
This article has been provided by the courtesy of SV Crystal Blues.