Finally we are starting our new journey with our now 6 month old Huckins which as you can see is not named Doc's Holiday. Beth's father ( Bob Brown) passed away at age 94. He was in reasonably good health and mentally sharp until 2 days prior to his demise when he began to feel unwell and passed away in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. There is no doubt that he would have passed much earlier if it hadn't of been for the excellent care provided by his son-in-law Danny Kennedy and wife Patty, and the relief help from the sisters Beth, Susie and Lori. In honor of Bob we named the boat before he passed after his nickname for Beth....hence "The Betsy." This brought a smile to his face when we told him over Skype as he shook his head and asked, "Do you have TV cameras taking your picture? How the hell can you see me?
The boat has taken 6 months to put into shape before I would leave the yard. Basically we had Huckins put in brand new electronics (Simrad) which included radar, automatic pilot, depth finder , VHF, and forward looking scanner. This was expertly installed by a former navy trained tech named Dave who patiently took the time to show me not only the installation panel but explain how to use the equipment. Unfortunately, my aging brain didn't retain most of what he told me but I have the guides and You Tube to keep me on tract.
Dave also replaced all the thru-hulls. Huckins replaced all 4 of the cutlass bearings; balanced the props, replaced the zincs, put on new windshield wipers, did the bottom job and assigned RJ and Jason to do the carpentry work. Lack of maintenance, like securing and recaulking the hand rails and properly rebedding the windows allowed water to run into the walls of the boat which basically caused the rot in a cedar closet, in the wall under the port side windows and the wood in the cockpit deck to become soft. Now all reconditioned I feel it is safe to take on the adventure and travails inherent in boating. These guys are experts at what they do, personable and take the time to explain why things should be done, give an estimate of the cost and answer any questions like, "What are the consequences of delaying this repair?" They stand behind their work. When one of our bimini enclosure doors was lost....no problem..they had a new one made, installed and the bimini reconfigured...at no charge.
The beach shack was endlessly cleaned by Beth despite my question, "Why not clean it when we get back?" (After all 6 months waiting is a long time, unless of course you are pregnant! Then it is a short time!) Things are all a matter of perspective! We did not have to do much talking to convince friend Glenda Lane, (the retired nursing director of the operating room where I worked) to take care of the shack. Glenda is enjoying the beach sunsets and I hope a glass of wine or two in the evenings.
Those who know us, followed the blog or read the book are aware, things hardly ever go really smooth for us in our adventures, so let me describe a couple of incidents that I know will bring a laugh to our friends and relatives.
Tired of the problems with the inflatable dingy we used on Doc's Holiday (ie ethanol fuel crap that kept plugging up my motor, leaks in the pontoons etc. ) I decided to forgo an inflatable for Betsy and had a fiberglass dingy built. This dingy, called a Trinka was built in Vero Beach and was chosen because it is a rowing dingy, a sailing dingy and I purchased a propane motor just in case my rowing skills and sailing skills (which I will have to learn since I have never sailed!) let me down. So while they are refitting Betsy I decide, "Lets try er out!" Towing the new dingy (now named Lil Betsy) to a launch ramp I expertly backed the trailer down the ramp and half way in the water, climbed on to the side of the trailer and pushed Lil Betsy back until she was about 4/5 in the water. I should have stopped there and thought things through but no, I had an inspiration.....instead of pulling the dingy around to the dock, why not just jump in and row er around! OK! OK! I know what y'all are thinking....and your right....I sunk the damn thing without ever getting her off the trailer! My first lesson in dingy mechanics....they don't have a flat bottom. When I stepped into the front of the boat I instinctively put my hand down as she tipped, thus throwing all my weight on the side thus pushing it under water... and fell over board. Picture a guy hanging off the side of a 10 foot dingy with his arm trying to brace against the moss covered ramp with his head under water, thrashing to get his head out of the water to gasp for air and refusing to let go of his new dingy! Well, no dingy ride that day but I did get to do a lot of explaining when the Huckins folks saw a bedraggled sopping wet customer cleaning his new dingy.
Just to keep the Huckins folks on their toes I had another yard adventure. Since there is no launch ramp for a trailer at the Huckins yard, the crew decided to launch our massive dingy with a yard mobile hoist. Several of the yard crew attended the launch including the owner Cindy Purcell. With lots of jokes and cajouling about the size of the lift versus the size of the dingy the launch was easily done, but I declined the offer to get aboard and one of the carpenters (Schwavek) offered to row the dingy around to the Betsy and help me lift her aboard with the davit. Things went smoothly with Schwavek expertly fitting Lil Betsy into the dingy chocks he built to hold her. As I deftly tried to get around the back of her to tie her down.....oops! I stepped on the canvas top instead of the hard top and fell through. With my cat like quickness and unbelievable strength I grabbed hold of the rugged stainless frame and hung there with one leg on top of the hard top one leg hanging down and my butt dangling in the air. There I was hanging with not enough strength to lift myself off and the yard boss PJ on the opposite dock frantically yelling "Are you ok! Are you hurt! Schwavek get underneath him and help him get off before he falls into the water!" "I could have got off by myself. I was laughing so hard I just didn't have the strength!" I somberly informed Beth. Her response, "Ya. Right!" I latter chastised PJ for not whipping out his camera and getting a picture for me to put on the blog.
Finally, we get to start our adventure. Pulling out of the Huckins yard on February 28 we headed down the St. Johns River towards St. Augustine.
A warm sunny day with light winds, we glided through Jacksonville past the free docks ( one which had a Hooters restaurant right behind it...How did I miss this attraction in the last 6 months!) It's a wide and deep river with several boat yards, container port, cruise ship docks and navy docks. I pushed up the throttles to 2000 rpm and Betsy quickly came up on plane and stayed there at 1800 rpms and 18 knots. She was just what the other Huckins owners told me....she will handle well. We sat the dogs on the helm seats and opened the side doors so they could enjoy the breeze. They both sat upright with their noses held high sniffing the change from the river air to the salty sea air as we approached the inlet from the Atlantic and the entrance to the ICW. Once in the ICW our progress slowed, necessitated by the frequent small fishing boats and docks that we passed, and our one delay at the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine. Our air draft is only 17 feet with the antennas down but I thought it would be polite to call the bridge. Since they were about to open in "1 minute" we decided to wait for their opening not realizing it would take 10 minutes for all the boats from the other side of the bridge to come through before we could pass......another lesson learned!
We floundered trying to find our mooring ball assigned by the Municipal Marina (their directions were somewhat confusing....at least that's the story I'm sticking to...and the wind was up, but we eventually hooked on to the mooring and spent a rocky-rolly evening until the passing boats stopped at dark. An Antivert and cold beer to help ward off the evil " mal-de mer" devil worked and we retired early exasperated from the anxiety of our first cruise on "The Betsy"
We awoke to a beautiful sunrise with the prediction of increasing winds and non-functioning heads!
A call to Rivers Edge marina on the San Sebastian River secured us a slip where we could repair the vacuflush pump and enjoy St. Augustine for a couple of days.
