2025-11-16 Friends and fluid leaks.

Sunday, we upped anchor and left Eau Gallie and headed south down the ICW to Vero Beach.  Vero Beach has the nickname Velcro beach because everything is so convenient and easy, you tend to stay longer than not.

Our friends on What If also headed to Vero, and got in before us.  In Vero, rafting of boats is normal as there are limited moorings, and they will raft two deep on catamarans, and sometimes 3 with monohulls.   The office told us we would need to raft, and since our friends Monica and Jason on Breathe were here as well, we opted to raft up with them.   

Breathe and Charm rafted together

Monica and Jason have been here a while, and had a vehicle available to them, so Sunday afternoon we jumped in the car with them and What If and headed to town to run some errands.   Hardware and groceries were on the agenda. 

Monday was back in the car for more errands with Breathe.  Stopped and saw the peacock in Fort Pierce.   

White Ibis and one of the Peacocks.

Went out for a nice lunch at a Mexican restaurant.   That afternoon, we helped Jason rebuild a couple of raw water pumps for his engine.  Monday evening we all went over to What If for happy hour or two.  Always enjoyable to spend time with friends.

Ed, Cathy, Kris, Dean, Monica and Jason.   Fun evening

Tuesday was a chilly morning, so we stayed inside where we had our little electric heater going.  Luckily, it was sunny, so the inside of the boat warmed up nicely.  Dean worked in the head and replaced our leaking macerator pump with a spare we had onboard.   Kris made a dessert, that turned out badly, and stuck to the bottom of the pan, so we scraped it out, in crumbles and ate it with a fork.   We were going to take the desert to a Manta get together in the afternoon, but that did not work out.   We did go to the Manta get together, had pizza and treats and it was great to visit with everyone.  Vero Beach marina has a small lounge we were able to use, which worked out great, as it was still a bit chilly outside. 

What If, Skoolz Out, Charm, Scott and Tina who used to own Sangaris, Breathe, Emanual IV, and Clark who used to own Sojourn

We also found a leak in our salt water wash down pump, which also powers our heads, and a leak in our freshwater supply line to the hot water heater.   Dean replaced a hose on the salt water pump, and Wednesday we headed to town to get a new supply line for the freshwater pump.   All these pumps were in our Vberth area.  These trips to town take a bit of time, the bus is free, but to get to Home Depot we have to take the small bus to the transfer station, then the big bus to the Home Depot area.   The buses come by once an hour, so a three-hour trip minimum.

After the fixes, the Vberth was finally all cleaned and dry again – Until – later that night, found that not just the hose on the salt water was leaking, but now leaking elsewhere.  

Kris cleaning up the water leaks - again

Our friends on Sojourn arrived in Vero on Wednesday, and Wednesday night we went with them over to What If, where Cathy and Ed hosted us for a nice dinner.  This is their last season cruising, so What If will be going up for sale, and they are purchasing a home.  Exciting for them, and we are happy for them, but we will miss seeing them on the water.   We will just have to stop by their house on the land.

On What If for nice dinner

Thursday, our new salt water pump arrived and Dean installed that.   Thinking all was good now, we put all the items back into our dry Vberth storage area.  Our new jib had arrived, so we also put that up.  We also had the end of the camberspar rebuilt and installed that as well.   The jib looks great now, and no issues, so we are finally a full sailboat again.   We also installed the new parts for the engine coolant drain - busy day of projects.

New Camberspar end

Sail installed and looks good

Friday morning, Kris ran the engine a bit for hot water and to charge up the batteries.   Later in the day our replacement spare Macerator pump arrived, so she crawled up in the Vberth to put it away and found water in the Vberth again.   WTF?    We searched and searched, but could not find the source of the water.   Then Kris had a thought, and turned on the engine again to heat water, and sure enough, the tank was leaking, but only when heating.  So we are under the Vero Beach Velcro curse – with one more thing to fix before we leave.   We ordered a new hot water tank.

Friday we headed back into town to get some line to make lazy jacks for our new jib.   The old one did not need them, but the new one is slippery and harder to control when we take it down.  That evening we had another Manta get together, as Sojourn was not there for the first one, and neither was Tracy from Phoenix Rising who arrived on Friday.  Had a happy hour outside as it had warmed up a bit.  Good conversations and snacks.

Alex from Moonraker, Tracy from Phoenix Rising, Pat from Galileo, Duane and Karen from Sojourn, Alf from Bilancia, and us.

Saturday, we helped Tracy rebuild a raw water pump – we are getting good at this.   

Rebuilding the water pump 

Dean went up the mast, and installed the new lazy jacks.   Kris took off the jib cover to start working on modifying it, as it doesn’t fit the new jib quite right.

We will be here until our new hot water tank comes in, and we can get it installed.