A Marathon of Boat Work, Post 26-08

Boat work in Exotic Places!

We headed into Marathon and started tackling or at least mitigating some mechanical issues and enjoying some time in the Keys.

Rodriguez Key to Marathon

Thursday, February 12

60 Miles | 52 NM

8 hours

Rodriguez Key to Marathon

With a pretty long day ahead of us, we left Rodriguez Key with the sunrise and headed west towards Marathon. We motor sailed in Hawks Channel (area between the Keys and the reefs to the south). 

We made good time and headed into Boot Key Harbor to see if there was an off chance of getting a mooring ball. Boot Key Harbor is a very protected anchorage that is mostly mooring balls (over 200) but there are a few places to anchor on the inside. We hailed Marathon City Marina to see availability, but none were available, so next to find an anchorage. 

Unfortunately, the harbor was packed like sardines, and we weren’t too keen shoehorning ourselves in, so we anchored on the outside of Boot Key Harbor and dinghied back in to the City Marina dinghy dock. This was our first step off the boat since Monday! 

Once in the marina office we were told that to get on the mooring ball waiting list you have to pay $25/day. With that you get to use their facilities and dock your dinghy there.  Since the waiting list is over two-weeks long, and we didn't plan to be here that long, we opted out. Instead we just we purchased some ice for our refridgerator from the marina and headed back to the boat. 

Marathon is a cruiser’s mecca

There is an active cruisers net for the area that broadcasts each day at 9 am on Channel 80. They cover area activities and give reminders of dinghy and anchoring etiquette (Dingy painters should be 4' to 6’, do not tilt up your outboard, anchor lights on even if on a mooring ball, no wake zones, etc.).

Top down view of the Mooring Field

The City operates a large mooring field that often has a long wait list. Anchoring in the harbor means using a short scope and close proximity to other boats. Anchoring outside of the harbor is more susceptible to wakes and adverse weather conditions, and requires a long dinghy ride to access land. Marinas range from pricey with a resort feeling, to not as pricy with Conch Republic vibes.

Unfortunately, a majority of our time here has been spent on tackling issues aboard Utopia.

Boat Work in Exotic Places

Well, you probably saw in our last post that we had refrigeration issues (among other issues), plus a few new items have popped up. Here are few things we are trying to address in Marathon before we head out of the country.  

• Refrigerator – We left Daytona with is as a known issue. I continued to trouble shoot as much as possible before a mechanic arrived.

  
  

• Lazarette Hydraulic Arm – After I got into the lazarette locker on Friday, the hydraulic failed, dropping the locker down quickly and loudly, resulting me in being locked inside. I am lucky that my head was below the door swing and that Sondra was there to open the door. Searching for a ram that fits.

  
  

• Air Conditioner – After arriving at a marina on Saturday, we started up AC and pump was very loud.  We had replaced this pump 2.5 years ago and I am dismayed that it might be ready to replace it again.  It’s a tell-tale sign of bearings but I need to explore more. Sure enough, it failed to run during the next attempt.

  
  

• Alternator Belt – You saw in our last trip we shredded an alternator belt and I replaced it.  During our trip between Ponce Inlet and Marathon, the new belt had looked okay. However, when I inspected it before moving to the marina, I noticed that it was slipping off the pullies. We really need to figure out what is going on.

Work Work Work

Okay, now back to our daily reacap...

Friday, February 13

Outside the Harbor Anchorage

We had lunch at Dockside so we could use their dingy dock, then we took a walk to Publix and the UPS store to pick up a package. Late that afternoon, we attended a happy hour at City Marina and had fun chatting with a few cruisers. 

Fun and Manatees in Marathon

Saturday, February 14

Burdines Marina

With all the mechanical issues, we needed to move to a marina for a few days. As soon as the marina office opened up (and after a quick alternator belt adjustment), we moved to Burdines Marina.  It’s not fancy but it has a funky vibe, and,they give us free ice every day.  The day was spent walking to the UPS Store to pick up some more packages and then stopping by West Marine.

Hope Fleet delivery to Guatamala on Utopia

After lunch we met the folks from Hope Fleet.  We had agreed to clear out space in our boat to ferry supplies to Guatemala for kids in need of basic supplies. Sondra will go into more detail in a future post.  

For Valentines we went out to eat at Castaway’s, which is only a short walk from our marina.  Very good meal.

Valentines Day at Castaways

Sunday, February 15

Burdines Marina

After listening to the cruiser’s net, we pretty much did chores all day.  A small, bulleted list:

• Troubleshooting of the alternator belt.  We asked for some help on the cruiser’s net and was put in touch with Brandon, a diesel mechanic who works for local legend Diesel Don. I gave him a call and spoke with him about the issue. He said he was going to try to carve out some time to visit the boat on Tuesday. In the meantime, I put a new belt on and modified one of the pulleys so the belt would ride easier.

• Installation of a new refrigerator compressor controller.  No error codes for the compressor. I suspect the compressor is ok just a blockage and lack of refrigerant. I did find a place for a possible leak and believe it needs a full system purge and drying.

• Evaluation of refrigerator thermostat. I did discover the existing thermostat was pretty much toast, but that does not affect my troubleshooting since I have the compressor running in bypass mode (when checking it) at lowest speed.  Will add a new thermostat once fixed (I have it ordered).

  
  

Monday, February 16

Burdines Marina

Marina Life (see center pic of Utopia)

Refridgerator Work

Refrigeration technician arrived at 8:00 a.m.  Nice guy but I had doubts on if he can solve my issue. All he was prepared to do was add some refrigerant and make calls and scratch his head. He did add some and it did cool slightly, so my theory that the compressor was functioning was correct. I told him I want a full system purge (with vacuum), drying of the system with nitrogen and adding an in-line dryer (which I had).  He indicated he did not have the tools for that (which I suspected). 

That all brings me to punting the refrigeration issue down the road.  All the other technicians are on a two-week waiting period (unless I want to pay priority rate). I have tossed more money at this that I wanted to, so we are going to wait until Guatemala to get it fixed. I am sure I will find a handy cruiser with the proper tools down there and it will probably only cost me some beer.

In the meantime, we have ordered a small 12 v chest fridge/freezer to get us through the next few months. I have a few more things to try on the fridge, but I will do it underway and not halt our season any longer. Fridge issue done for now (not solved but addressed). 

Alternator Belt Work

During our daily walk we stopped by Marathon Diesel, a Yanmar shop, to chat with the owner, Luis, about the alignment. He indicated that the pulley alignment I did was probably okay and that it might have fixed the issue. He gave us a reference to a friend of his in Rio Dulce, Guatemala that is also a Yanmar mechanic if we need some work.  Score!

Tuesday, February 27

Burdine’s Marina

Marathon chicken in its natural habitat.

Since we have decided to extend our stay at the marina until Thursday, we had to vacate our existing slip and more down three spots because the normal slip owner was coming back today. We moved the boat at 7:30 a.m. in expectation of Brandon (alternator belt alignment guy) arriving at 9 a.m.

Alternator Belt Work

Brandon arrived promptly at 9. After checking everything out, he indicated that my pulley fix appears to have worked, and that the belt had proper tension. He suggested to run the engine for a few hours to double check the new alignment. In all due caution, I ordered an extra five belts in case of more issues.  Engine issue solved (hopefully).

Air Conditioner Work

While I am awaiting a new water pump to arrive for the air conditioner, I took apart the one that is no longer working. After cleaning it up a bit the impeller appeared to be spinning better. I hooked it back up and it was started again but still with the worrisome whining. Our plan is to run this pump until failure since I think it’s the bearings, which I can’t get to. I think I am going to be glad to have a new one to plop in when the existing one fully fails.

Non-Work Time

With that our boat fixes are dwindling down so we went for a walk and went out to eat at the Marina Restaurant. 

Wednesday, February 18

Burdine’s Marina and Road Trip

Since we have an extra full day in the marina and needed to pick up a package in Key West, we decided to rent a car for the day. Native Taxi took us to the car rental before 8:30 a.m. 

We immediately left Marathon and drove to Key West. Sondra’s sister had sent a package a couple of weeks ago in expectation of us picking it up in Key West. Then we decided to skip Key West by boat. We spent a good bit of time there a couple of years ago, and heading to the Dry Tortugas is just a little overnight sail from Marathon. So we decided to make a fun and productive day with a car rental.

Package in hand, and after a quick pit stop at Clarence S.Higgs Memorial Beach, we left Key West. During the trip back we stopped at the National Key Deer Wildlife Refuge for a bit of hiking on Big Pine Key and then lunch at No Name Pub. We stopped at No Name Pub back in 2014 when we visited by car and it was a treat to eat there again. The fish and chips were awesome. As a bonus we saw some Key Deer!

Road Trip

From there we headed back to Marathon and we did some chores that are easier with the car (like a big grocery run).  We bought all the dry goods we will need until reaching Mexico. Since we don’t have our new fridge yet, we didn’t get any cold items. We then came back to the boat and started some preparation for our marina departure on Thursday.

Thursday, February 19

Boot Key Harbor

I headed out early by myself to return the rental car and taking a taxi back to the marina while Sondra did prep work to get the boat ready to move (to where, we did not know yet). Shoutout to Native Taxi!  $10 vs. a $20 Uber.

We then made our shortest trip ever, leaving the marina around 9:30 am and were anchored in Boot Key Harbor about 20 minutes later (we can actually see the marina from our anchorage). We had assumed the anchorage to be too packed for us to squeeze in and were expecting to have to anchor on the outside Marathon, on the north side of Vaca Key. Fortunately, we found a good spot to tuck into. This will allow us to stay put until we are ready to leave Marathon.  If we were on the outside, we would have to move to new a anchorage on Saturday to avoid a weather shift coming in late Sunday.

Our Boot Key Harbor Anchorage

Once the anchor was set, we then had a typical day on the boat, picking up packages (got hydraulic arm for lazarette locker, AC pump and extra alternator belts) and going for a walk on shore. 

Right now we are in wait mode for deliveries (12v fridge/cooler, more alternator belts and new thermostat for fridge). Overall we feel that we've done enough work to have addressed the major issues (at least for now).

Tentative expectation is to leave next week (hopefully Thursday) after our final deliveries are sent to Marathon.

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 Post 26-08