My home office, Florida style.

I'm lucky this week to be on assignment in the same city as my boat.

When is it time to change your air filter?

After our exhaust elbow broke and filled our boat with exhaust and soot, this is what the air filter on our Beta Marine 25 looked like (left). I conservatively chose to replace it with a new one.

Family Shake-down Cruise

Who reads the whole Odyssey in one day?

Being a kid off Kapalua

Benny and Nicole discussing monsters

Chillin' on Kapalua

Who let the 7yr. old drive the $1000000 yacht?

Helmsman Noah

First grilled meal onboard.

Is that a storm brewing?

Swimming off Cayo Costa

Parrot Pepe

Guess who did most of the driving.

End of the cruise.

Tender moment with a new dink...does that sound dirty?

We have added a new tender to our boat equipment inventory.  It is a West Marine RU-3 inflatable made by Zodiac in France.  I chose this model based on its light weight, just over 50lbs, and its stowability.  When it's deflated it stows nicely into a cockpit locker.  We're powering it with a 3.5hp Suzuki motor, which is also light.  

I normally would shy away from a WM branded item for a significant item like a dinghy, but this boat for the buck has more features and a better price than the comparable Zodiac model, and a five year warranty.

Sub-tropical

Keeping it cool or Poor Man's Air-conditioning

How do we deal with Florida heat and humidity without AC? This hatch chute is one big help. It is super effective in funneling wind into the boat. This particular chute came with the boat and it was an afterthought to include it in the on-board inventory, glad I did.

Engine Checked Out

After the major surgery on the shaft log, I was left with a vibration or cavitation coming from the area of the cutlass bearing.  It isn't terrible but I felt like I should finally have the whole engine installation looked over by a pro, it having been installed by a camera jockey.  Rick Myrick from RNR marine in Bradenton came out and had a look.  The vibration didn't concern him and he was extremely complementary about the installation, all things that I wanted to hear.  Because of Rick's ability to stroke my ego and make me feel so much better about the whole engine installation, and also his tremendous expertise, I give RNR Marine a  rating.

Spruce Love or Reefing Accomplished

When your boom is a log, albeit a pretty varnished spruce log that was designed for roller reefing, finding a slab reefing approach isn't obvious.  That being the case, I went super simple with two small Schaefer blocks that have a base that is curved to match the round boom.  The reefing line ties to the block, goes under the boom, through the reefing point on the sail, back through the block and to a cleat at the forward part of the boom.  I'm not sure if this was the best approach or not but it works.  Please let me know if you've seen a better solution with these old booms.  We have been thinking of replacing this boom with a lighter aluminum one, but for now we are so enchanted by it's classic beauty, we cannot.

Size doesn't matter...

Though we're feeling rather undersized, Calliope is back at her temporary home slip, this time perpendicular to her host, the Leopard cat Kapalua.  

The stuffing box problems have been sorted out after some serious shaft log surgery and the auxilary propulsion system is almost at 100%.  I'm very proud of the fact that we made it across Tampa Bay without TowBoat US, for once.

Hauled out again...

Miss you...I'll be back soon Calliope dear.

The Ugly Past

Why did it take eleven years to relaunch our boat?  Here is some photographic insight into that question.

Once I got started, I found veins of wet core throughout most of the deck.

Original interior minus the Atomic 4.

Chaos!

Optimistic young crew.

Masked for nonskid application.

Amazing what a little paint will do.

Hello Sunshine

Calliope arrived safely at Snead Island Boatworks.  I can't say enough about the service we received at this yard.  They expertly handled the launch and mast stepping and even lent us a truck for the weekend.  We stayed at SIB for two nights before setting off across the bay for our slip.  We had a great beginning to the journey, but unfortunately had some stuffing box problems which after a great day of sailing necessitated a call for a tow.  

Delivered safely by Great Lakes Boat Transport

Sailing!

Safely docked in our temporary home slip.

Packed and ready to go

One day short of the eleven year anniversary of the day we bought her, Calliope is leaving the confines of a boat shed and headed to the Gulf of Mexico.  With all new systems, engine, decks and interior she is headed to the Tampa Bay area where she will float in the slip of http://www.svkapalua.com/ for a month or two while Kapalua is off cruising.