Days 224-226

Clearwater Fl.

Distance 48 Miles
Total Miles on Trip 4247
Av Speed 7.7 knots

We have had a couple of busy days. We moved the boat from Clearwater Harbor Marina to Clearwater Beach Marina. Docking at the Beach Marina brought a quote to mind.
"Some days you watch the show, some days you are the show"
It took several tries for me to back into the slip. There was a very strong wind blowing sideways across the slip, and our slip was right next to a slip that extended 15 feet past our slip. Fortunately Tom & Cici from God Speed II, were on the dock to catch our lines. (And watch the show)

We moved to Harbor Beach Marina, so Tim, our diver, could replace the worn cutlass bearings on the boat. Tim spent 6 hours setting up and trying to remove the old bearings but he was not successful. As disappointing as it was it was still worth the effort. Tim does a lot of work for Pittman Yacht Services, in Tarpon Springs where he was able to get us on their scheduled to pull the boat and replace the bearings on Thursday. Normally they are booked at least a month in advance. Their price was also very close to what Tim quoted me to do the work.

Monday night we had more company from New Jersey. Nick & Maria were on vacation about 5 miles from Clearwater, and stopped by for docktails and dinner. We enjoy having company from home. The sad part for them is they are now on their way back to NJ and snow.

Wednesday my brother and sister-in-law, Rick & Sherry visited with their friends Mike & Molly. Rick & Sherry came to Florida by RV to be snowbirds, and ended up buying a house. We took the boat out for a ride, and once again we were the show coming into the dock. When we left the dock there was little to no wind, and true to our luck, by the time we came back there was a nice strong wind. We have docked 115 times so far on this trip, and the two worst times were at this dock.

Thursday at dawn we headed to Tarpon Springs. We have not pulled off the dock at dawn since we ran with Mark & Karen (Kay Dee).
Tom from God Speed II, taught me two new definitions:
Boating - Fixing your boat in exotic locations
Yachting - Paying someone to fix your boat in exotic locations
Today we are going "Yachting". I truly enjoy "Boating" more than "Yachting" and it is not about the money. Most of the time I really enjoy working on the boat. Having the cutlass bearings replaced was one job well worth paying them to do. If I was doing the work it would have taken several hours if not days to complete. Pittman had in done in a little over two hours. They do this type of work all the time, it was a fun to watch them. They found two screws that would not come out, for me this would have added hours to the job, for them it added minutes. You can see the video of the boat coming out, and the bearing being pressed out on our video's page.

Pulling the boat out of the water also gave me a chance to check the bottom. In March of 2019 I removed all of the bottom paint and repainted it. So far it has held up very well. The main purpose of bottom paint is to prevent plant life and barnacles from attaching and growing on the bottom.

Our trip back to Clearwater was uneventful. All of the vibrations are gone and the boat is running smooth. We will be Clearwater for another week and the we are heading to Gulfport Fl.