The Trawler Beach House

This fantastic video is compliments of bahamaspress.com and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did... And please read our previous posts on the Bahamas,
What Cruisers Want To Know About The Bahamas
What Do You Do Once Your In The Bahamas?

Eleuthea Bahamas — http://www.myoutislands.com. It’s better in the Bahamas! Welcome to the Out Islands of the Bahamas, or as we like to call it the REAL Bahamas. This video is about the island of Eleuthera and Harbour Island. It is our intent to show a glimpse of our two hosts (Kevin Oestenstad and Jennifer Fox) discovering the Out Islands of the REAL Bahamas for the first time. Join them on their journey to discover truly authentic Bahamian destination experiences in Eleuthera.

By Susan Landry

(Chartlets by Susan Landry, not to be used for navigation.)

Our cruising posts in the past have always included our favorite anchoring spots. As the snowbirds head south this fall, some for a repeat performance, some for the first time, they’ll be looking for secure anchorages for the night in the ICW. We try to average about 50 miles per day and what follows are our suggestions without marina stops.

Is It Really Better In The Bahamas??

This is a follow to our post, What Cruisers Want To Know About The Bahamas.

You've done all of your homework. You've picked the perfect weather window. You were in awe as the dark blue of the Gulf Stream gave way to the crystal clear, but shallow waters of the Bahamas Banks. The feel of accomplishment just can't be describe. You have arrived, so now what? The answer is almost as endless as the Island chain itself.

With the "interior" makeover of the flybridge complete, the "exterior" was next on our list. Since the exterior of the boat has been painted in the past and we knew it was done in AwlGrip, the maintenance coat was a lot less labor intensive. First, all of the hardware and fittings were removed, including the vinyl lettering for her name. All edges had a double row of delicate tape to keep paint off of where it does not belong. Several screw holes that had mounted hardware that was no longer in use had to be filled and repaired. A good sanding and a single coat of 545 white primer and everything was ready for paint.

The Christmas and New Years holiday season doesn't mean the work on the boat will slow down or stop. If we are to stay on schedule, we need to push forward with all of our projects, even the smaller ones. Those smaller ones keep getting pushed down the list as more important tasks present themselves and some get moved to the top for a variety of reasons. But the list doesn't look any shorter even with all of the done items scratched off. One small project I have been promising to Susan for a long time is finally done.

We posted our holding tank installation several months back and one of the unfinished parts of that project was to install a tank monitor. We did a lot of research on the different types and manufacturers and finally decided on the Solo Tank Monitor made by New Providence Marine/Ferriello Sales LLC. The decision was based on lots of positive feedback from current owners and a recommendation from Miss Peggy Hall, known throughout the boat industry as the "Head Mistress." Peggy has a couple of excellent books on marine sanitation. The installation could not have been more straightforward or easier.

A major project that has been on my to-do list for a very long time is the renovation of the flybridge. I knew this was going to be a lot of work, and other more pressing projects have kept this on the back burner. But at some point, it really needed to be done and a few weeks ago, I reached that point. The "You Have To Do It Now" list is blank for the time being, and I have found the extra time away from the work stuff to get it done. But it was not one of my more pleasant projects.

We have been users of the Mustang Inflatable Vests for many years and have been very satisfied with them. But we have recently been made aware of a recall due to a problem that might keep them from fully inflating. Here is the official recall notice...

Over the years we have often used Moeller Marine products, also sold under Tempo, and found them to be of fairly decent quality. But our most recent purchases have changed our opinion considerably. Here on the Beach House site we often post the specific product we are working with and links to where it can be found. When we use a product we like, it gets a good mention and we will often recommend it to others. But when we find a product we consider of poor quality we feel just as obligated to let others know of our experience. Three recent products made by Moeller have made our "Never Again" list.

We haven't been totally neglecting Beach House, but W-O-R-K has been interfering with our boat work a little. Our new projects for Marinalife are coming along nicely. We have quite a few Navigational Notices and Alerts posted that cover the eastern U.S. coast from Maine to Florida and the Gulf Coast, Great Lakes and inland Waterways that include the Great Loop Route. We have even posted a few from the west coast, but not as extensive as the rest. We are also putting together cruising itineraries based on some of our previous cruises that include marina stops and anchorages for a leisure cruise south on the ICW, with stops at about every 50 miles. We will have another cruise template for the ICW from the Georgia border to the Florida Keys, but that will probably not be up for another week. If anyone wants to receive my Navigational Notices, you can go to the Marinalife website and register, and then sign up for whatever areas you want on your dashboard page. It is all free and I send out the Notices as soon as I receive and verify them. They can be read on the website or sent right to your email box. The notices are also linked to our Nautical Chartviewer so you can see the exact area where the notice is posted.

In September of 1987, I sailed my 30-foot Hughes Columbia sailboat south to Little River, South Carolina. After a few days of waiting weather, I exited the Little River Inlet and pointed the bow towards Bermuda, some 1,000 miles away. To find that small speck in the middle of the Atlantic, I had the most up-to-date navigational instruments of the time. They consisted of a compass, VHF radio, a sextant with complete tables, paper charts and a radio direction finder. Seven and a half days later, I tuned the RDF to the radio signal for St. Georges Harbor and my feelings of accomplishment were beyond explanation.

The tachometers for our Ford Lehman 120 have been a question mark since we bought the boat. We have had no way to know how accurate they are, and our cruising RPMs help to determine how much fuel we burn per hour. With the price of fuel today, this is an important piece of information and we would like to be as accurate as possible. Of course, calculating the number of hours run and the fuel added to the tank will give us an average, but we want to be more precise. Running the engine at our average cruising RPMs of about 1750 will mean a fuel burn of about 2.2 gallons per hour (GPH). Running at 1950, the fuel burn jumps up to 3.1 GPH and at 2000 RPMs, it is 3.4 GPH. Having the correct readings on the tachs can save us some considerable cash considering our cruises are usually thousands of miles.

One of my pet peeves with businesses in the marine industry is not showing up for appointments when we need an estimate. I can't count how many times we have called someone locally and said we were ready to spend some money, but needed to have them come out and give us an estimate. The response is always, "no problem, we will be there on XYZ day." That day comes and you wait...and wait...and wait. Finally, you give up when they are a no-show. We absolutely will not call someone back and beg them to take our money. Besides, if they won't show up for the estimate, what would happen if we gave them a job to do? The biggest offenders, in our opinion, are the canvas shops. I mean, if your not coming, call and say so, and if your too busy to take another job, tell me your too busy! But I am amazed how so many cry about how terrible business is and blame it on the economy, cheap boaters and all kinds of other influences.

During our cruise along the south coast of Cuba several years ago, I did a really dumb thing. We were Med-moored to the dock at Santiago, next to our friend's Vagabond 47 and there was a bit of swell running in the harbor. We both decided to set out an anchor from our bow to keep us from banging together and used our dinghy to do just that. I sat in the dinghy with our CQR 45 and about 50 feet of 3/8 BBB chain in my lap ready to deploy the anchor, and that is when it happened.

First, a complete disclosure. I have installed a dozen or more SSB radios as a service technician over the years. But my first two installations were on our own boat and I started with no previous knowledge and only the manufacturers manual. To make matters worse, we had no internet to do any research on and most installers would have us believe that there was some kind of magic and mystery to installing an HF radio. We quickly found out that was not the case, and installing one of these radios was no more difficult than installing any other piece of equipment. Eighteen years later, we are installing the most current Icom offering, the 802, on Beach House in preparation for future cruising. And once again, it was not all that difficult.

If we seem to have fallen down on our projects, it only appears that way. Since we arrived in Fort Myers Beach, the work on the boat has been constant. That doesn't mean we have not had time to walk on the beach, go for a swim in the Gulf, or sample the local cuisine. We have done all of that between working on the boat. Getting her cruise ready for the next big trip is always our priority. But every once in a while, we need to have a little fun, too. Some of the projects began while we were in Maryland, and some have been waiting for us to find a good deal on the right equipment. I suppose the day will actually come when we can say, "We are ready."

There has been a lot of discussion recently on how the U.S. government could possibly allow LightSquared, an independent 4G LTE provider, to put up 4,600 transcievers sending broadband data services in the L band with such power that could significantly interfere with nearby GPS frequencies. Possibly causing complete failure for a high quality civilian GPS like your automobile GPS, even under an open sky, and for critical units such as those used in aviation. The GPS units on our boats that we have become so dependent on can also be affected according to major GPS manufacturers that have been doing extensive testing. There has been quite a discussion over at the Panbo Website for a few months now and there is a lot of details on the current status. This morning I received an email from the Coalition To Save Our GPS with an urgent Call To Action. I think everyone might want to read this and consider responding.

After a 1,200-mile-plus cruise, engine maintenance is not a to do, it is rather a must do. We did take the opportunity to change oil and filters at the halfway mark, but a thorough change of all filters, as well as an oil change, was high on our list. So I thought I would share the experience with you and give you some insight on how we approach this sometimes messy chore.

We have been here for a few weeks now and are getting settled in as well as learning the lay of the land. I don't know how we manage it, but we often seem to settle in at a popular tourist location with all of the issues and interesting experiences that apply. Fort Myers Beach, Florida is no exception. But there is a lot to be said for this location and things are moving in the right direction for us.

NOAA charts available free online and through “print-on-demand” service

Nearly 13 million registered boaters in the U.S. are priming to hit the water. As part of their preparations, boaters need to make sure that they have the latest NOAA nautical charts on hand to avoid groundings or accidents while navigating along the coast. With modern technological advancements, obtaining the latest chart is easier — and more important — than ever.

“Sailing the oceans and Great Lakes doesn’t have to be a voyage into the vast unknown of ages past,” explained Capt. John Lowell, director of NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey. “Obtaining the latest charts that provide increasingly precise depths and up-to-date navigational features can be as easy as clicking a link on a website.”