2024-08-25 Idaho state fair - change of plans and off to Bend, Oregon

We kept busy in Boise, visiting with our son, and went out to dinner for Dean's brothers birthday.  Tuesday we hit the Idaho State Fair.  Our son Derek and his girlfriend Emma came along.  This was our first time meeting Emma, so we enjoyed being able to explore the fair with her.      

Tuesday was $2 admission, and more importantly, $2 Idaho Potato Ice Cream day.   A feature of the fair is the Idaho Potato Ice Cream.  You only get half of one for $2, but it is plenty.

Dean showing the Idaho Potato Ice Cream

Hard vanilla ice cream, shaped into a potato, then coated in cocoa powder, cut and topped with whipped cream, oreo cookie pieces, nuts and chocolate syrup.    So Yummy

Of course there is always more good junk food at the fair.   Derek had some yummy loaded fries as well.  - Potatoes rule in Idaho

We explored the home cooking display, art, fruits and vegetables, hobby craft and more, and then hit the small and large animal areas.

Derek and Emma checking out the chickens

Kris looking at all the old motors

Next day we ran some errand in town, and happened across this famous vehicle.

Oh, I wish I was an Oscar Mayer wiener - that is what I truly want to be.

Dean made some homemade cinnamon rolls for us, they were yummy.

Ready to go into the oven.

Derek was in the market for getting a new couch before he moved, as the new place had a room he was changing into a movie room.  Found a couch at the big furniture store that was heavily discounted due to an electrical issue, but that could be fixed.

Dean checking out the couch for comfort

We thought that Derek had to move out at the end of August, so we got busy getting packing boxes, and sorting things that he wanted to get rid of, but then he got news he could stay until the end of September before moving, so we changed plans, and headed to Bend to visit Kris's folks for a while before heading back to Boise.

5 1/2 hour drive, on mostly flat long roads in central Oregon.

Kris's folks live on 4 acres of high desert outside of Bend

Kris's sister Kay and husband Pat drove the 2.5 hours from her house over to visit as well.  

Kay, and Pat hamming it up for the camera

Visiting around the dining table.

Kris's mom Deedy has dementia which is advancing.  Still able to live at home, but not for much longer.  Kris's dad Norm is 92 years old, and taking care of the house, property and Deedy, but it is getting a bit tiring for him. 

We will stay in Bend a bit more before heading back to Boise.

2024-08-18 More boatyard work - flying to Boise - we bought a car?

We worked hard Sunday and Monday on boat projects.  Dean kept working on cleaning the boat hull above water line, sanding below, and getting off all the old brown water stain, and goop left over from our vinyl striping.

Kris got the props all clean and polished up, and gave the boat interior a wipe down with a vinegar and bleach to prevent mold.   Also changed the sail drive oil on both drives, and put some grease around the lower seals, so they would not dry out, or get a bunch of guck in them while the boat is sitting out for the next couple months.  Put a coat of primer on the sail drives as well, since it was down to bare aluminum in a few small spots after sanding, and did not want that unprotected either.

Monday night had a strong thunderstorm we barely noticed on the hard, but the winds were from the south.  When Kris "took a walk" around 2:00 in the morning to use the facilities, she noticed large waves crashing onto shore near the marina.   Dean got up around 5:00 a.m. and took some photos, the waves were about half the size as they were when Kris saw them.

Waves crashing on the dock

Southerly winds and waves are rare in Trinidad, usually only in a Tropical storm, but this was unusual.  The Powerboats marina and yard we are staying at, had some damage from hurricane Beryl, that they were repairing, and had just finished a large concrete pour, and building a small shack on the fuel dock, when the storm happened. Unfortunately a large fishing boat picked their new dock as the place to come to rest after its mooring broke during the storm, and did a lot of damage to the dock.

Fishing boat also took some damage, pounding up against dock.

New fuel dock shed was destroyed by bow of fishing boat.

Beautiful sunrise after the storm.

We had to walk back to Immigration on Tuesday,  To leave Trinidad, then come back not with the boat, we had to get a letter from the yard we were in, take the letter to Immigration, and then come back 48 hours later and pick up the stamped Immigration form that we will then show at the airport when flying back.  Trinidad loves their paperwork. We stopped and had a nice lunch out on the way back.  Dining out is cheap in Trinidad

Our two lunches, complete with sodas, Kris had grilled Mahi plate, and Dean a cheeseburger.  Total for entire meal with tip was $17 USD

We have been eating up all our fresh stuff.  Will keep the frig and freezer on while gone.  Down to two apples for evening meal before leaving.  Since the fridge was so empty, we put a beanbag inside to take up room and add insulation.

We had no issues getting to the airport - which is about an hour away from the boatyard.  Our taxi driver has been doing taxi runs for the yard for around 20 years.  He sang along with the radio playing old country songs re-vamped into a Caribbean style.   

Got to the airport a bit early, as we did not know what to expect from security and luggage check, so had time to kill in some very uncomfortable chairs.  Can't complain too much, as all flights were on time, and we made it from Trinidad, to Houston, with 4 hour layover, then to San Francisco, and then to Boise.  All flights were full, which was surprising.  We both froze in the airports and on the flights - Kris brought a pair of fuzzy socks to wear on the plane, and a sweatshirt, but still cold.  Dean wore his jacket as well - guess we are not used to air conditioning.

Derek picked us up from the airport and we stopped at McDonalds on the way to his house, Kris was very happy.  

Since we were going to be visiting land for 1.5 months, Dean thought buying a car would be a good option, so he had been bidding on a car at a local auto auction place and got a 2009 Subaru Forester for $2450.   With fees and sales tax and license and such it was around  $3,300 total.  Our hope was we could use it for the time we are back, and then have Dean's brother sell it.  It had a few issues, like the rear hatch would not open, no key fob for the electric doors, check engine light on, radio screen not working, and generally dirty.

Dean putting the back hatch back together after fixing the latch

Dean set to work buying new fluids for all systems, filters and such.  When we got to Boise he cleaned the car, and started looking at fixing the issues.  Went to AutoZone, and got a free digital readout of the error codes for the check engine.  Exhaust issues or sensors was the only issue.  Kris found an exhaust leak, so some $10 goop from the auto parts store to fix that was pretty easy.  The rear hatch button took a trip to the junkyard and found a few wrecked cars.  An our or so later we came away with a new rear hatch button and a radio for $50.    Dean worked and put the new rear hatch button in, and that is fixed.  Ordered new key fob off Amazon, and Derek helped program that, so now that is working.   Still a bit stumped on the radio screen - but will get that figured out.  

We are staying with Derek, who is renting a house with a roommate.  The house is his roommates parents house, that is next to a highway, and has been bought by the state as they are doing a new highway overpass, and the house is in the way.  Derek is getting real cheap rent - and knew that it was only for 6 months -but a great way to save money for that amount of time, but has to be out by the end of August.  The house had a daycare in a converted garage, and that is where we are sleeping.  Nice big room with comfy mattress on the floor, and our own bathroom as well.

Our lodgings.  Boxes make good computer tables and clothes storage.

We have also spent some time visiting with Deans mom, and his brother Lee and wife Edie.

Has been interesting seeing how much the area has grown.  Huge new sporting goods store in town that Derek had not seen yet, so we did a bit of a look see.  If you ever come across a Scheels store it is worth a look.  Took us almost an hour to wander around.

Inside was a salt water aquarium with lots of coral and fish

3 post aquarium

There are also quite a few "photo opp" displays just for fun, which we took advantage of.   A small Ferris wheel,  a candy store, a small café, a gun and ammo room that could supply a small army, and more balls, bats, frisbees, golf, shoes, boating, archery, fishing, camping and on and on.  

Rock mountain with stuffed wildlife

Photo op with BigFoot

Photo op with Derek scared by the Cougar  (Derek's nickname as a baby was "Cougar Bait".  Long story)

Dean pointing out our location

What sporting goods store doesn't have a 6' tall Lego sculpture of the local college mascot?

Small Ferris wheel in middle of the store

We will work a bit more on the car, spend time with family, and take some nice long morning walks while it is cool in the morning - below 80 degrees.  Will stay with Derek until the end of the month, and help him move, then will head to Oregon to visit Kris's folks for a while.

2024-08-11 Boatyard blues

Busy week for us.  On Tuesday we hauled the boat at Spice Island in Grenada for our insurance survey.

All went smoothy, and the surveyor only found two  items - that our flares were expired, and one spot in the hull that went thud instead of thunk.  He was not worried about it, as it showed no delamination, but something we will check out when hauling again.

Shelvin Thomas, our surveyor, checking moisture readings on hull

Boat looks pretty good

In the slings - always a nervous time.

Survey complete, we went to the local budget marine, bought new flares, and then were on our way, sailing to Trinidad.  Pretty nice sail, and lucked out and found a mooring ball in the main harbor.  The balls are only $7 per night.

View from the anchorage/mooring field.  Some large cable ships

Looking towards the haul out yard.  Many more boats hauled than in the water.

Photo of area we found online, 

Next was check in.  First you have to go the the marina/haul out yard office.  They then take your paperwork and submit an email to Immigration.  After a while, Immigration gets back to them, and approves a health certificate.  The marina/yard then types up a cover letter, with copies of your papers (boat documents and passports), and gets it to you.   That took 1.5 hours.

Then off to Immigration, where you fill out forms in triplicate, or even 5 copies of some, and only 1 copy of others.  7 different forms, but a total of 15 pieces of paper.  Then they are stamped, signed and copied.  Your passports are stamped, and you are given some copies to take to Customs.   At Customs you fill out one form in triplicate, and give them the copies from Immigration and then you are done.  

We started at 8:30, and by 11:30 we were done, so had a nice lunch out to celebrate.

Our haulout got delayed one day, so Thursday we took the sails off the boat, and did some cleaning inside.

Friday we hauled out at 7:00 a.m. to time it with high tide. They haul with a custom made trailer. The bows go in slings, and the sterns are supported by a padded block

Trailer in the water ready for us to motor up.

There are 3 guys in the water guiding the boat in.

Stern view of trailer under water.  We are just starting to lift out

Pretty tight ride through the yard, boats on either side only a couple feet away

6 people making sure it is blocked and to our liking.

Everyone at the Powerboats yard has been very helpful and friendly.  They take a lot of time to make sure everything is done right, and make sure you are happy with it as well.   So far really good experience.

Now the boat was hauled the work began.  1st item was to remove our above water thru hulls, that are the sink drains, bilge pump drains, and watermaker brine drain.   They are original to the boat, and we suspect some leakage, so are replacing them.

The port side drains are easy to get at, but the starboard is much more difficult.

The hoses we are accessing are above the horizontal white hose, and below the red horizontal water line.  

Another thru hull to reach.  Dean doing a good contortionist job.

We got them all out fairly easy, except for the two sink drains, which we both worked on.  On sawing from the inside and one sawing from the outside - but we got them out.

Some of the removed thru hulls - still in good shape, but sealant starting to fail on a couple

We will leave the holes from the thru hulls open while we are gone, to let everything dry out.  Kris sealed up the holes on the inside, so no bugs will get in.

Next step is marking the new water line, as we want to raise the bottom paint a bit.  We had taken some reference measurements when Charm was in the water and it was calm.  So we transferred the measurements and marked off where the bottom paint will go.  

Tape marks are reference marks, won't put the bottom paint that high.

Next on list was to remove all the old vinyl striping on the boat.   It has held on well, so getting it off was quite the job.  Dean did all that work, with a plastic scraper and a razor blade when needed. 

Taking off vinyl striping.

Kris taking off old sealant round thru hulls.

We need to take off the props and repaint them as well.  You can see the marine growth really liked the zincs we have between the prop hub and saildrive.

The marine growth was dying, and made for a stinky job getting them all off.

Props and hubs from both sides off and soaking in vinegar water to remove the remaining marine life.

We rented an A/C unit to keep the inside of the boat cool, since we have no breeze in the boatyard.  It has been great, to have somewhere cool to go to.

The yard has decent baths and showers, but the water heater is broken, so only cold showers.  So far the days are hot enough you don't mind, but today is supposed to be cooler and rainy, so Kris might be a bit chilly in the shower after the days work.

We fly out late Wednesday night to Boise, Idaho, so got more work to get done before we leave.

2024-08-04 Week of nothing

Not much this last week.   Did a bad job of taking photos as well.

We moved anchorages back to Mt. Hartman Bay, anchored a bit further out to get more breeze to fight the heat and humidity.

Kris took a shopping but into town for groceries and to buy some Damp Rid - which we will use on the boat while hauled out to try to keep mold to a minimum.

Hope 3 large buckets will keep the boat a bit dryer during the 1.5 months we will be gone

We cleaned the bottom of the boat - it needed it with quite a few small barnacles.   Kris did the Waterline to about 2' down, and Dean used the hookah to clean the rudders, props and keels, and stuff Kris could not reach.    

We both came out covered in amphodia

Took Kris 3 shampoos and about 5 gallons of water to get them all out of her hair.  They were also in our ears.  We had a nice swarm of fish under us the whole time we were cleaning, eating the critters we dislodged from the hull.

It is definitely time for new bottom paint, as it was only two weeks ago we cleaned the hull.  

We cleaned again, because on Tuesday, we get hauled out for our insurance survey, and are hoping we won't need to pay for a pressure wash for the surveyor to check the hulls.   

We both made bread to last for the next couple of weeks as well.  Kris is quite happy with her new recipe of bananas, applesauce, oats, whole wheat flour and walnuts.  Maybe she just likes pounding the walnuts.

Kris taking out her aggression on the walnuts

A dense filling breakfast bread

We took a sweaty walk to town, and got another bucket of Damp Rid, and hopefully our final grocery supply before we haul the boat and fly back to Boise on the 14th of August.

Dean did another snorkel trip, and was trying to clean some of the hull that is out of the water, underneath between the amas.   When the boat is hauled, this section of cleaning is hard, because you are always looking up, and get a sore neck.  He was hoping by floating on his back, he could get some done a bit easier.

Kris started cleaning out cabinets and wiping down walls and ceiling with bleach/vinegar.  This will help keep mold from growing while the boat is shut up for 1.5 months while we fly to Idaho.

We are trying to get the boat as dry, clean as possible before hauling.  Even got out the shop vac to get rid of the water in the bilge.  We had about a quart on port, mostly from Kris replacing the raw water lines and cleaning the raw water filter.  Usually this bilge is dry.

We had more water on starboard, and we remove the depth/speed transducer and clean it, and get a bit of water in from that.  Bilge pumps remove most all the water, but about 3 quarts can sit in our bilges the pumps can't remove.  Wish there was a economical bilge pump that could truly get all the water out.

On Tuesday we haul for our insurance survey, then Tuesday night we sail the 80 miles to Trinidad.  Wednesday we will check in and move to the dock for hauling out on Thursday.