Beginning the Transformation of Moonlight Sue

OK, it's me again, you know, the imaginarian, and I've had a lot of time to come up with all kinds of things to make over our boat into one that is as unique as can be.
 First was the color scheme. I had already had enough of white boats. I mean, inviting someone to come over and telling them to just "look for the white boat" didn't make much sense to me. And this is important, I don't conform well to everyone's standard protocol. "Normal" just isn't part of my lifestyle. So I settled on jet black as the base color scheme, and designed the rest of the colors around that. Black is not that hard to complement and Interlux Perfection Fighting Lady Yellow seemed to be just the right shade to do just that. More on all the flak I took for choosing black later, and on some things, well, I would agree.
     One morning, as I was looking over the general appearance of the boat, I was disgusted with the the lovely shade of "chipped white paint"on the mast. "This is where it starts " I thought and made an appointment with the boatyard to remove the mast. 

     The day came and the forklift moved into position to set the lift straps under the spreaders in preparation to lift it off the shoe ( the mast is deck stepped). As they began to lift, the whole deck lifted and I yelled for them to hold (yes, all the shrouds and rigging had been disconnected). The mast was not splitting away from the mast shoe so I had to resort to unbolting the whole shoe from the deck and that enabled the whole thing to lift up. After I cut the wire to the lights and the VHF radio, the mast was removed to the yard and laid across saw horses.
 Oh, by the way, did I mention that I had never done any thing like this before and was clueless about how to proceed from here? 
     Well, how hard can this be? It's just a big aluminum pole with some wire in it that should be replaced as the wire is all black inside the covering (badly corroded). All I have to do is to slide the luff tracks out and replace the wire, right ? Simple! I'll just take this big hammer and 2x4 and knock the shoe off the bottom of the mast and....... IT's NOT MOVING! After a few minutes of pounding, I feared I would break the casting and resorted to asking the yard manager what to do. He said that heating the mast might do it, but I knew that could soften the aluminum at the foot of the mast so I opted against that. After a couple days of brainstorming I knew I had but one option; cut the shoe off the mast. 
     I had to make this a straight cut, so I wrapped tape around the mast 1.5 inches above the shoe and began to saw. The shoe eventually fell to the ground and I picked it up to peel the mast end off the shoe. I was totally astonished at how much corrosion had accumulated there! There was NO WAY that shoe would have come off any other way. But now the mast is 1.5"shorter than it was. What can that hurt, right?
     I proceeded with the rewire, complete with new steaming/deck light, anchor light, VHF antennae, and new VHF cable. I did everything right and slid all the luff tracks back in. By the way, THEY all slid in and out quite easily.
     After three coats of flawlessly applied Jet Black Perfection, I was now faced with a dilemma; all my standing rigging was now too short. What to do?

      I used to be a profile mill machinist and when we saw we were taking too much off the part the common solution was to shim up the pattern with the appropriate amount of masking tape thus moving the tracing stylus out, adding material to the part. So I fashioned two blocks of 3/4" teak wood to the shape of the bottom of the mast shoe, and using longer bolts bolted the shoe to the deck, effectively raising the mast assembly 1.5". Now the standing rigging would work.
     After installing bullet connectors to the wiring (so I wouldn't have to cut them if I had to drop the mast again), the mast was re-stepped, wiring reconnected and rigging re-tightened. I turned on the VHF radio and it worked - as did all the lights.
      I was quite proud of my newly rebuilt shiny

 BLACK mast. But this would not be the last time this mast would come down.

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Miscellaneous Ramblings of the Early Years

Okay, so I said Keith was ready to post again - and I wasn't fibbing about it. BUT, this situation is part of that "La Vida Loca" I was talking about in my earlier post. Essentially, it goes like this:
Me: Are you going to post on the blog tonight?
Keith: Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. I need to do that. Yeah, I'll do it.
Me: Okay 

This short conversation is followed by Keith getting out his favorite snack and drink and turning on the tunes or the tv. Of course, this is after he gets back to the Sue in the late afternoon from being on shore all day. He snacks until dinner, has dinner and falls asleep watching tv.
My new strategy will be to get the blog page set up for him to type in whatever he decides to type while I make dinner. Stay tuned to see if that works out or not.

In the meantime - you get me again. Alright, alright - I can hear the groaning through the speakers on the 'puter. Sorry, can't be helped.

Getting settled in PI after our permanent move from Nevada was really easy - and I mean, easy. Port Isabel (and South Padre Island) had a very relaxed and "laid-back" feel to them. I remember thinking that it had the same "feel" as San Diego back in the ancient age when I was growing up in "America's Finest City" (no, really,  that's how they described it - in San Diego). Also, the Queen Isabella bridge from PI to SPI reminded me of a mini Coronado Bay bridge. Another similarity was it bordered Mexico, as did San Diego. The only difference was San Diego is a huge city and PI was small (one main highway) and intimate (cozy). Yes, I felt right at home in PI.
I also felt right at home on the boat. After about 6 years (give or take) of living in the truck, the Sue was a palace.  I could stand up straight and walk more than two steps! Of course, getting in and out of the truck was easier for me than getting on and off the boat - especially when it was low tide. Several years later, when we were at a marina in Seabrook, Texas there were times in the day I couldn't get off the Sue at all during low tide. 
There were some things on the boat that I didn't like, and until it was changed (ie.....torn out and re-built), they were real frustrating irritants. 
One of these was the cabinet above the stove. I'm sure Keith will talk more about this cabinet when he gets around to talking about the changes made in the cabin (stay tuned for about 5 years! heeheehee), but right now, I'll describe this shelf in one expressive word - AAAGH!
This cabinet was two long shelves. The closest shelf surface sat lower than the furthest shelf. Neither shelf was made for convenience in either storage nor retrieval.  I tried using it for dishes and cookware; than canned and boxed food.  No dice. The cabinet was a menace. 
The sliding doors were enough to make me take a hammer to the whole thing. Actually, they didn't slide at all - not placed in the cabinet's wood grooves. The "handles" were just indents in the dark plexi-glass doors. So, the whole schameel was to get your fingers in the indents and slide the door - about 1/2 inch. This is where it would abruptly stop and break a finger nail as your hand was wrenched from the door's "handle". Repeat process until door is opened completely and your fingers have no nails left at all.  I was never soooo glad to see that cabinet gone!
The other major irritant that sticks out in my mind was the nav station chair. It was a stand alone chair that swirled - only it didn't swirl. Keith tried everything to get it to swirl, but it was old and worn out. I was glad to see that chair go, too.
As we had to deal with the old and horrible cushions in the v-berth and starboard settee (which we had laid out as a bed), Keith picked up some memory foam mattresses. Ah - memory foam. The best invention of the past century! There's nothing like a cushy cushion to cush the tushy while sleeping - and the gentle rocking of the boat, too, made for a good nights sleep. Take any of life's conveniences from me - but don't touch my memory foam!

Moving aboard...sleeping, eating, and other things

Keith has assured me that he is ready to blog again, but I'll do this post first.
After reluctantly agreeing not to stay in the motel again on our home time to Port Isabel, mainly because I wanted the use of the motel's wifi service, I began to stay on board the Sue. Naturally, I prepared myself with a new internet connection - a wifi card from Cingular (which was later taken over by AT&T). So, now I could be on board and stay in touch with fam and friends through the internet, and do my genealogy research, also, on my home time away from work.
It did not take long to adapt to living on a boat. It was, actually, quite easy. I think the only two major factors in adapting was very minimal space when cooking and using the head. Actually, using the head was almost non-existent. Neither Anchor Marina nor South Point had any type of pump out system. Keith solved the problem by bringing aboard the porta-potty that we used in the truck. If I recall correctly, Anchor Marina had a shower, but when we moved over to South Point and joined the Yacht Club there, we used the Club's showers. 
Cooking on the Sue, at first, was also nearly non-existent. Keith had to replace the stove that was in the galley first. I did use the top burners on the original stove, though. I also did a lot of meals in the slow cooker, too.  A majority of time, until the new stove went in, we just went to the local fast food joints around town.
Once the new stove was in, it became an experiment to cooking meals. The stove was on propane and the oven consisted of a strip of propane flames on the "floor" at the very back of the oven. Essentially, all of the major heat stayed in that area. Cooking times consisted of two-three times longer than average times and a lot of turning the dishes around for even cooking. Prepping was also a lesson in organization and patience what with the small areas in which to work, so I learned to use any space in the cabin that I needed. 
Most of the time, I would decide what to fix the day before, what I would need and the area's I would use. Chopping and mixing were done in the mid - to late afternoon on a TV tray. 
Why not the table in the salon (like most boats have)? Well, we did have a table, but the support pole for it was not the proper base for the table. The pole that we had caused the table to severely lean from one side to the other. So, the table was kept in the low position and made into a bed for me to sleep on after I discovered how difficult it was for me to get in and out of the v-berth at night when I needed to use the head. We used tv trays for eating meals and the Nav station for computer and other "office" business.  The trays and Nav Station also doubled for extra work space for cooking, too. 
By the time Thanksgiving rolled around in our second year on board, I was ready to do the first home-cooked holiday dinner we had had in years. While driving team, we would head back to Vegas for Thanksgiving and have our holiday meal at one of the many casino buffet's in town. Of course, there were a couple of times we didn't make it home and ended up at some truck stop restaurant for our Thanksgiving meal. It wasn't too bad a meal either. I've always been thankful and grateful for the truck stops and their attention to making life easier for the driver with the services they provided for us.
So, anyway, back to that first Thanksgiving on board the Sue. My first consideration had to be the turkey. I decided on a 12-13 lb. bird so that I could freeze the leftovers and than take it on the road with us when we got back in the truck. However, I did not trust our oven to thoroughly cook the bird (and it would take a LONG time to do so, anyway), so I started to explore alternative options for our main course. I settled on an electric roaster. It would not take as long as the oven, browning the bird is minimal in a roaster, but it would cook it through and through. Using the roaster itself was not a problem either, as we were hooked up to shore power. I used the slow cooker for the green bean casserole, and everything else was done on the stove top. 
Organization was the key to it all, really. The bird and green bean casserole had to be started first. Of course, I do an ambrosia salad on Thanksgiving every year, too, and it was always prepared the day before. Pies were store-bought at that time. I didn't discover I could bake the pies in the roaster until years later, and we didn't get off the road in time to do them anyway. I barely had enough time to defrost the turkey after getting home off the road. So, once the bird and casserole were cooking, it would be a few hours before everything else had to be done. So, peeling potatoes, and cooking up the gizzards was used for that time frame. So, I would pace myself and organize - turkey, green bean casserole, gizzards, potatoes,  Stove Top stuffing (because of time and space limits), and the gravy and rolls last. I would even put out a tray of crackers, cheese and pickle slices for Keith to munch on before the dinner was ready.Since that second year on the Sue, I have done Thanksgiving (and Christmas ham dinners, too) on board every year.
No, it wasn't that difficult to adapt to living aboard. I have lived in houses, apartments, cabins with no electricity or running water, motor homes, and trucks with sleepers. Living on a boat was just one more place to add to the list. 

I do have to add that one of the most difficult aspects is the rocking. It's not the extreme rocking while on the move, but that gentle rocking when in a slip...or at anchor....or on a mooring. Even when wide awake, it's like being in a giant baby cradle. If you don't move around, keep busy, go topside occasionally, it puts you to sleep just like a baby in a cradle. It surprises me that I don't see more cruisers always yawning!

Boat Creatures Around the Boat

So, now we get to those creatures that make their home around the boat. Actually, if you just arrived at an anchorage, dock, slip, mooring than technically it is their home and you are just visiting them.
There are many of these types of boat creatures - alligators, manatees, dolphins, pelicans, sting rays, crabs, ducks, herons and a plethora of other creatures we have yet to encounter on our travels.
Even though one may feed, hold, cuddle, pet their boat creature who lives on board, it is better (and, sometimes, the law) to not mess with any of the boat creatures around the boat. Talk to them, take pictures if you desire to do so, but don't attempt to feed, pet, touch or swim with them. Even a docile looking creature such as a dolphin can get his "fin out of joint" and inflict injury.
On our entire trip thus far, I have yet to encounter an alligator or a manatee. Keith has seen both, but not I. Manatee's, apparently, make appearances in the morning hours after sunrise. I admit, those are not my favorite hours of the day. I'll wake up around 9'ish and Keith will come down into the cabin and tell me all about the "huge manatee that was swimming around the Sue" - no picture, no rushing down to wake me up so I can rush up and take a pic. So, I now have this insatiable goal to see a manatee. Maybe one day <sigh>.

When we first bought the Sue we would take her out on day sails. Once the sails went up and the motor shut down, dolphins loved to swim with the boat. Port Isabel was great for "sailing with the dolphins". There was something very peaceful, and almost spiritual, about cruising along in the company of such graceful and playful boat creatures. 
While in Seabrook, my favorite boat creature were the ducks. Now, we did feed them crackers or day-old bread. During breeding season, we would get a Mama Duck and Daddy Duck with their passel of ducklings paddling around the boat every evening around 5 pm waiting patiently for their bread or crackers. I laugh when I think about it. They were a close-knit brood until feeding time - than it became "every duck for himself". They would chase each other away to fight for that bread or cracker crumb.

The inhabitants of water and sky are interesting creatures. If one observes them for any length of time, you can get a sense of character and individual personalities in them. They are far from helpless, as some have surmised, as they forage for their own food and provide themselves with shelter. They even, at times, find their own unique way of entertainment. I enjoy being around these boat creatures as much as I enjoy being around our on board boat creatures. 

Boat Creatures Topic on the Terrible Twosome

When Peachy arrived on the Sue in 2009, she had one year to enjoy living aboard as the only pet until the terrible twosome arrived in 2010. Of course, I'm talking about the brother and sister tuxedo cats - Face and Elvis (whose name was later changed to Ziva by Keith. So, from this point on, I will refer to her as Ziva).
Face and Ziva, along with their sibling (I called Ashes) were found on a stormy night in San Antonio by my daughter and her friend. They stopped along the side of a deserted road when they saw a number of kittens wandering around wet and frightened. Out of all the kittens, which was obviously an abandoned litter, they managed to catch three.
Ashes was adopted right away. She was a beautiful two-tone tan kitten. When the three arrived at my daughter's house, Ashes was the obvious protector of the three of them. Face. likewise, was obviously the runt of the litter, being much smaller than the others.

My daughter could not find a home for Face and Ziva, so I called Keith and presented my case for taking on these two orphans. To my surprise, he agreed and I brought them home with me.
As much as Face and Ziva, who were most likely in the 6-8 week range in age, wanted to be friends and play with Peachy, she wanted nothing to do with them. She even "warned" them away if they got to close. In time, Peachy learned to tolerate the two, and even, on occasion, they would all sleep side by side.
Face and Ziva adapted well to living aboard - so much so that I believe, in their mind, they owned the Sue. They had specific times for sleeping (kitty nap time), when they wanted their treats (kitty kandy), and when they wanted to play (anywhere between 2 am and 5 am).
Okay, so if they wanted to believe they owned the boat - fine. If they wanted their treats at a specific time - fine. If they wanted to sleep - so sleep. BUT when play time consisted of chasing each other (with occasional tackles) up and down the companionway at 2, 3, 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning - all bets are off. It became a battle that Keith and I lost until they were old enough where play time consisted of staring at each other until one swatted the other with a paw and they tusseled on the settee for a short time, eventually retreating to opposite corners and falling asleep.
I will talk more about these two little minions in later posts. They were a great source of entertainment for us over the past few years - and a great deal of heartache, too. 
If you are wondering if they ever landed in the water on occasion - yes, they did. Not as often as you might think, though. Each of them (Face, Ziva and Peachy, too) took tumbles into the water about 3-4 times each. Fortunately, we were there for almost all of them - and when we weren't there (for the cats, anyway, as they wandered even when we were away from the boat), we were close enough to shore for them to get there and make their way back to the Sue. In time, the terrible twosome learned the advantages of not taking chances when jumping from the Sue onto a dock. Peachy never left the boat without one of us with her, but we did learn to keep an eye on her. Peachy's eyesight isn't what it use to be and there were a couple of incidences where she walked right off the end of a dock or right off the bow of the Sue without noticing it was "the end of the road" (so to speak). Even at her age, she's still a good, strong swimmer!
Next blog, I'll talk about boat creatures that hang out around the boat.

Let's Talk......Boat Creatures

We've taken a break from our "normal" blogging because Keith's been busy with other business. So, guess what? You get me again!
I've been trying to come up with a topic that won't interfere with the chronology of our blog and confuse the crap out of everyone. I thought, maybe, talking about boat creatures would be a "safe" topic.
No, I'm not talking the creepy, crawly things that can settle themselves into the bowels of a vessel (although I might talk about one way they can get there thanks to "other" creatures!). 
The creatures I'm talking about are our pets. One kind are our "family" - dogs and cats, for the most part. They are the ones that travel with you wherever the wind takes you. They are our companions, protectors and boat guards.
There is another group of boat creatures. They are temporary, for the most part, and only stay for a short time (an hour, a day, a week, etc). They hang out around your vessel. They are dolphins, manatees, stingrays, ducks, pelicans and any other creature of water or sky. 
We started out, after buying the Sue, with no boat creatures at all. We were still driving team coast to coast and pets just weren't in the picture at that time. But, in 2009, we got back our dog after the passing of my mother. So, let me introduce you to Peaches.
Peaches is a Toy Poodle originally owned by Keith's mother (the namesake of our vessel). We're not sure when Peachy was born, but our best guess estimate is somewhere around the Spring of 1998. 
Peaches has had quite the life. She was born in a puppy mill and came to Susie from a person who treated her "unkindly". In her lifetime, she has lived in the mountains, desert, small towns, and big cities. She's traveled all over the country with us in the truck, visiting almost every State in the Union. She's been in weather as high as 114 degrees and as low as -9 degrees. Now, at the approximate age of 16, she has sailed the Gulf Coast with plans to continue her life's adventure to the end.
I think the most extraordinary thing about Peachy is her comforting nature. Her personality, body language and expressive eyes had brought great comfort to not only Susie in the last years of her life, but to my parents as well. Even now, with poor eyesight and hearing, arthritis in her back legs, and only a few teeth remaining, she will sit in Keith's lap (or mine) and cuddle up while showing you her love and gratitude. It is absolutely amazing.

On my next post, I'll talk about our "terrible twosome' - brother and sister tuxedo cats we brought home to keep Peachy company (or drive her crazy).