DRY Heat and Clothes Storage

While our trusty "Mr. Heater" has served us well for 4 years, our trip to Kentucky convinced me a vented, "dry" heating system was needed. As a result, I ordered a propane fired Cozy Cabin Heater and installed it recently. In addition, Cathie fabricated a pair of nifty clothes storage "lockers" that I installed in the forepeak. So... with those things accomplished, I put Buddy in the barn this week to hide from winter until we leave for warmer waters mid-to-late January.

Cumberland and Tennessee River Cruise

Our first real "road trip" with Buddy was a great success. We ended up spending over seven days on both rivers, traveling about 200 KM. We started with launch at Green Turtle Bay, a real nice spot, having dinner at the GTB Yacht Club with the owners whom we had met in the Keys the last winter. We spent a night there before heading to Duncan Bay the next day for a night on the hook.  We passed a number of barges throughout the trip. While on the hook we went ashore for a hike on "Land Between the Lakes" noting, among other things we are not used to seeing, this Cyprus. Next morning it was  cool and we awoke to a bit of a fog...

From Duncan Bay we were advised to head south to for a stop at "Fat Daddy's", a "real fun place". So here we are for lunch 35 KM later... Summer's over I guess... 

There was one other lonely fisherman there..

Unfortunately, the first big cold front of fall followed us south, with frost warnings the next three nights. We choose to find some Marinas where we could attached our umbilical cord (ie: electric heat). Here we are at Paris Landing State Park.

From there we decided to head back North and cruise the Cumberland River for a while. We ended up at Kuttawa Harbor. We were assigned a slip "in the shade of the shed". Wanting the warmth of the sun, we took our chairs to the sunny side for Cocktail hour. BTW, except for "Fat Daddy's" and the Green Turtle Bay Yacht Club, everywhere we went it was "dry"...

Over half of Kuttawa (including "Downtown") was submerged when Lake Barkley was created but there are a few historic homes on higher ground.

I was impressed with how the large houseboats were tied to the dock. That clothesline works great!!

From there we headed south to Lake Barley State Park for the night. We specifically asked for an "open" slip in the sun. After being told that was a strange request, we ended up in one of four open large houseboat slips for transients at the marina.

As you can see, the preferred slips are covered... There was a not so timid mink messing about on shore...

The next day we first headed south to the Tennessee border where the Cumberland River narrows. We wanted to go the Clarksville but the winter flood delayed the opening of the new marina (we were still in need of our umbilical cord). So we stopped in an off channel pool for lunch and to read for a couple hours. The Pelicans were prevalent...

We then headed back north stopping in Eddy Creek for the night, passing one of Kentucky's Penal Colonies..

Retracing our course, we headed to Sugar Bay on Kentucky Lake for a night on the hook. We had a great spot for sunset...









Finally, for our last night on the Lake, I took Cathie to Kentucky's most romantic spot (according to Cosmopolitann Magazine anyway - per the Grand Rivers, KY brochure).

We took a dock at Lighthouse Landing Marina, a sailboat harbor... Being sailors, we were in familiar and comfortable surroundings. If you look closely at the photo on the left, you'll find Buddy.The total bill for pumpout, dock for the night and haulout in the morning was.... $18.75. Great Place...

More photos can be seen at: http://picasaweb.google.com/sanderpjwi/KentuckyLake#

Kruisin' in Kentucky

Buddy and crew are currently cruising in Kentucky (and northern Tennessee) on Kentucky Lake (Tennessee River) and Lake Barkley (Cumberland River). We'll post a full report later...

A bra on Buddy???

Today we installed a trailering bra to deflect wind and bugs. The bra took about 8 hours to design and fabricate. It's made of about 9 - 60" wide yards of 18 oz. "truck vinyl". Actually the fabic is Hypalon covered polyester.

10/6/2010 - The bra worked as designed - a 15% increase in MPG while towing and the windshield is bug free!!!

More power!!!

With it blowing up to 30 knots, I installed the additional 65W Kyocera solar panel on Buddy's roof today. Including the previously installed 135 Watt Kyocera panal, we now have a total of 200 Watts! The panels are installed using Stainless and nylon marine canvas frame deck hinges with pull pins.They are connected together with MC Interconnect Cables for Solar Electric Panels, all purchased from Northern Arizona Wind and Sun  http://store.solar-electric.com/. Part # are: MC4-10-MF, PV-AZB4, and PV-AZS4 (one of each). The wires to the 65W panel are 5' long. The smaller panel is attached to the larger panel and crowned aluminum 7/8" tube with nylon deck mount hinges to electrically isolate each. When both panels are attached to the rooftop, the wiring stows out of sight underneath the panels. Buddy has two Group 29, 115 amp deep cycle wet cell house batteries and two Group 27 wet cell starting batteries. The charge controller (Morningstar SunSaver) is programed to put 90% of the solar output to the house batteries and 10% to one starting battery.

I did not want to attach additional mounts to the roof because we sometimes carry our Zodiac Inflatable on the roof when underway. From previous photos in the blog, you will note the front 135W panel does not have to be removed to stow the inflatable. The rear mounting bar is easily slid forward or removed along with the smaller panel. We now have enough solar power to run both our new 2.5L Nova Kool refrigerator, the portable Waeco 56L freezer and all other electrical needs on the boat! (updated 12/8/16)

Northern Bay Cruise

Fish Creek mooring August 21...

On August 25 we went on a 6 day cruise in northern Green Bay and Big Bay du Noc. It was blowing pretty hard out of the WNW when we left Fish Creek, so we decided to stop and spent the night on Horseshoe Island, part of Peninsula State Park.

The dock was empty so we took it. Later that afternoon we walked around the island.

From there we headed to Fayette State Park, located in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in Big Bay du Noc. It's a neat historic site with a great natural harbor. http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10365_10884_18317-44320--,00.html.

We met up with our friends Barb and Les who had sailed up on their Corsair F-31. It then started to blow strong out of the southwest so we ended up spending three relaxing nights... We hiked around,read, went to dinner with a friend from the area and had a good time, totally away from the "tension zone".

After the wind settled down we headed south, stopping at Shipyard Island Marina on Washington Island for the night. I wanted to meet and talk to the operators there as they are our nearest Yamaha Dealer. I am considering re-powering with a pair of new F-70 High Thrust Four Strokes. Interesting as they told me I should wait until the new model was included in a promotion that can save me dollars. They didn't have to tell me that, but by doing so, won me as a possible future customer.....

Tall Ships Race Day!!

Buddy was appointed the photo/chase boat for the Tall Ships Challenge Race of 118 miles down the West coast of Lake Michigan from Sturgeon Bay to Racine. The race was sponsored by the American Sail Trainng Association Tall Ships Challenge

We got up early, picked up our crew and headed out the Ship Canal to the Lake. We put 22 nautical miles under the keel chasing the Tall Ships around at the start. At one point, it was a bit uncomfortable as I had manuevered between two ships after the start of the race for some closeups. I wish I had a video of it but I was busy at the helm trying to keep from being squished...Russick Smith, a crewman that had just finished a 6 month tour of duty on the Pride of Baltimore, was the photographer on the bow shooting photos like crazy. Brian Stagner, representing the American Sail Training Association, was right behind him. The photos here are quick ones I took while trying to stay out of the way...

There were 9 ships in total that were entered in the race. There was also a Russian built ocean racer that was being sailed by the Polish Sailing Team.

Big Tall Ships and little ships!

This morning 12 tall ships paraded past Buddy's dock on their way to the Tall Ships Fesitval in Green Bay.

The small sailboat on the mooring behind Buddy is the Ginny, a 1970 Cape Dory Typhoon I restored a few years ago. She's named after my Mom...