Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Winterization: Time to Put Her Away

I am, and am not looking forward to putting Always Starboard away for the winter.  I am, because boating is expensive, especially for us weekend warriors!  We attempt to pack so much into a weekend and our season seems so short.  I am not happy, because winter is always so cold, dark and long....

This year we are pulling out earlier to do the work when it is not so cold.  I have always tried to extend the season to the last possible day and it inevitably gets cold and cleaning and winterization is horrible in the cold.  We also are going to attempt to have the boat all waxed and ready for next season. This is something we also always procrastinate on and do in the spring.  There are some things I am going to wait for spring to do. One is the impellers, but I can do that in the slip next spring. I have never changed them on this boat and are well over due I am sure.  I have not seen any change in the engine temps, but I want to do them as preventative.  When you finally do see it in the engine temps you are too late and are doing damage to components. 

It will be nice to have the boat all ready with the wax on her for spring. It is always a gamble with the weather.  This year we had to wait out the snow.  I never thought I was going to have to wait for it to stop snowing when the boat was at the house to begin waxing it.  We were also hurrying to get a cockpit cover we bought over the winter installed, so we could keep the snow out. Ah the joys of Wisconsin weather....

Well, until I start thinking about projects or trips this may be it for awhile....see you next year.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

What do you work for?

Do you work to live or live to work? It seems as though the further you advance in life and career the more complicated and complex you make your life. There is a direct relationship unless you can avert it with strong will. It was said in a documentary 180 Degrees South and I may be paraphrasing…”it is easy to complicate your life; the hard part is simplifying it. As a society we want to always move forward, but all we have to do is take one big step 180 degrees from where we are and keep moving forward in the other direction.”

Susan and I have talked about retirement on a boat. The thought only makes sense in a sailing vessel for the possibility of early retirement. I have read in verious places, (livingaboard.com) a couple can live aboard in the Caribbean for roughly $10-$15K a year. You need to leave or dry dock during the summer months due to the strong storm season there. During that time a person could either leave the boat dry docked and live in a standard house somewhere, however, I think you could also find your way back up to the Great Lakes or at least inland a ways on the Mississippi or up the coast.

What could you do without? Susan and I a few years back got rid of Cable TV due to the fact we felt is was unnecessary and expensive. Since then we filled that budget space with more extravagant phones and tablet computers which consume the budget savings we once had. Most everyday you feel lost if you did not have these gadgets, but their recurring expense consumes $1,800 a year or more.

If you look at monthly expenses that "normal people" have it is daunting.  At this site, leavingthefolks.com, which I think is very conservative it claims $24,000 - 25,000 a year in living expenses on average nation wide.

Here is the montly breakdown as I see it for most people:
  • House and property tax or rent = $800 - 1,200
  • Auto loan = $300-500
  • utilities = $350
  • Home and auto insurance = $150
  • Health insurance = $300 - 600
I would venture to say before you even think about food, clothing, education loans, entertainment or other "toy loans" you could be spending at a minimum the national average for living expense. Most probably exceed this by many thousands if not tens of thousands... 

I wonder if we should give up the power boat and concentrate on saving to be done early….?

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Google map of trips

Cruising Lake Michigan. Here is the map as promised. The 2010 is in blue and 2011 is in red.  According to the GPS we did 287.5 this year.


View Lake Mi Trips in a larger map

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Day 8,9 and 10: Home

We woke up on Friday and came back across around noon. The weather was great and the cross really was nice.  Once we arrived we went back to Quarter Deck and stayed there.  After getting everything tide up and situated for the day we went swimming in the pool.  It was fun everyone had a good time.  When we were done with the pool we decided to go have a nice dinner downtown.  We ate at Trattoria del Santo for dinner and everything was great. 

Saturday we had breakfast on the boat, cleaned up, and I went to take the dinghy and truck back to the public dock. 

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Day 7: A day of disappointments...

Radar is a wonderful thing. We cuirsed about 50 or 60 miles up the east shore from Ludington to Frankfort and had at times less than a few hundred feet of visibility. It turned out my radar has worked on the entire trip.  It’s crazy this is actually working now, but I can say I will never recommend Raymarine to anyone. I do not think it is worth the hype and Raymarine needs to do some work to get me back on their good side.

Day 6: Why is it so hard to find fresh salmon?

Well, the day started out fine, but the rain was just a couple hours away. We spent the day reading and washing. We washed clothes and read books in the Harbor View club house. I did a quick video of the club house when we arrived the day before(click here to watch) During this time I also took my bike to a shop nearby for some repairs. Beyond the sketchy roads to the fish place susan mentioned, I also had some major issues with my bike. $85 later my bike was back to normal. After the laundry and showers, Peyton and I went to the Jamestown brew pub to let susan put Pierce down for a nap (he was being unruly).

After that, I was restless and decided that if two cities and at least six people told me to go to Bortell's I better try it out.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Day 5: Ludington, MI (Susan)

The day started with the kids sleeping in, yet again.  It is almost impossible to think that they are sleeping in this much. Today we are planning to cruise to Ludington, which is a short 13 mile trek north.  The wind is blowing and from a distance we can see white caps on the lake.  The weather channel indicates that the winds are 10-20 knots out of the NW so the waves will be on our bow.   We untie from the dock and make our way.  As expected the lake is choppy causing an uncomfortable slow ride, but not too horrible. Fortunately, it won't be a 3 hour tour an only a 40 min ride.  Upon our arrival into Ludington, we stop at the gas dock at the Municipal Harbor to fuel up (gas is cheaper) and then head to our slip at the Harbor View Marina.  We choose Harbor View Marina because it has a pool, and because the docks are lower.  This will make it easier for the dogs to get in and out of the boat.  Later we found out that the municipal marina also had lower docks, but it was too late as we had already paid our slip fees.  Oh well...knowledge for next year. 

We decided to go to the local Jamesport brew house for lunch and based on a recommendation from Yelp we ordered the Crabby Onion.  This was absolutely yummy!!   If you are ever here make sure you get it.  We tried a few of the local beers while the kids colored their fun sailor hats and then after lunch walked the town a little bit to get Paul a coffee.  Paul didn't realize it until he had his lack of caffeine headache, but with the drive in the morning he didn't have time to make his morning coffee.   We found a local coffee shop, but nothing can compare to his coffee at Aspen... he is such a coffee snob :)

Peyton and Pierce at the local coffee house


After lunch it was on to swimming at the pool as it was getting kind of hot out.  The kids had fun and Pierce is getting better every day.  On Saturday we couldn't even get him into the pool and today we had him floating with the use of his swim vest.  He even attempted to hold his breath and go under water.  A few more nice days and  I suspect he will be ready to attempt actually trying to swim around with the vest on.

Our hunt for Lake Michigan salmon continues and keeps directing us to this local restaurant called Bortell's, only a short 6.6 mile bike ride away, much shorter than the 20 miles north that we heard when we were in Pentwater.  I run and think, 7 miles isn’t that bad, we are on bikes, why not.  We pull the bikes from the bow and gear up for the ride.  I quickly realized that we are not in the flatland of WI and that this town is not very bike friendly.  After going 2.4 miles up and down hills we end up on a curvy road with no shoulders and I ask Paul how much further… 4 miles on a curvy road when the sun was going down was not my idea of a good time. I kept envisioning some drunk running into us and killing the whole family.  I convinced Paul that we needed to turn around and head back, especially since while out and about on the bikes we saw 2 van cabs.  A cab ride sounded much better than risking our lives with the kids.

We ended up eating at a local Italian restaurant Luciano's and shared a pizza and then went to the infamous House of Flavors.   Finally an ice cream place that actually makes their own ice cream.  After waiting in line we got some cones and then went to the beach to catch the sunset.  The sand on their beach is amazing and I can’t wait to soak up some sun tomorrow… well hopefully as the weather is forecasting rain so who knows we will see.
The boys at sunset on Ludington beach

Day 4: Everyday should be a beach day


Today was a pretty good day! Everyone slept in; dogs and all until 9AM. This was quite the accomplishment since they always get up at 5:30AM like clockwork. We started off the day going to the Cottage Garden Cafe for breakfast and then off to the beach. We packed the dinghy up with all our beach things including a picnic lunch and went through the channel out to the beach. (video at the beach) After the beach Pierce took a nap and Peyton found some worms at the store across the street and went fishing, again no fish. Although, when I helped him with the hook and worm we did see a really big bluegill that attacked his bobber when he first dropped the line in to set the depth. This fish was probably the biggest bluegill I had ever seen.

We met a couple in their 70’s that tow their 35’ boat back and forth to Florida ever year. They were interesting to talk to and gave us some pointers about different places to see in the towns we plan on visiting. The name of their boat is “Not Yet”. The boat is for sale and I asked why. They said they need something smaller for the tow. I think with the name “Not Yet” this boat was planned to be their last. The man said this size is too difficult being 12’ wide, because he is routed all over the place for construction zones. This guy has been towing big boats since 1986, the ones he has bought in different places and his snow bird trips.

For dinner we grilled out some steak we brought with and corn that we got at the cities farmers market. We were told the corn was picked this morning and tasted like it had. After dinner, we went for a dinghy ride with the whole family to get some nice pictures of the sunset…dogs and all. At one point Abby had all fours on one of the tubes of the inflatable ready to launch at a duck as we were driving, Peyton had to grab her and pull her back in. After we got back to the boat we all walked down for some ice cream at cosmic candy. The dogs got preferential treatment, cups of water and cake cones from one of the employees. After that, the kids watched a movie and went to bed. So all-and-all a good night.


Sunday, July 24, 2011

Day 3: Manistee....no Pentwater


At the last moment as we were heading down the channel out of Sturgeon Bay Scott radioed and said "what do you think of going across to Pentwater first?". Not ever being that far south, and lake Michigan looking good we decided why not, and went across to Pentwater. This was a surprise to me, as I was certain Susan would not want to cruise that far. She really has her hands full with the kids and dogs. The dogs both did ok Appa was scared most of the three hour ride (tour)...just realized the parody to Gilligan's Island.

Scott said this was the longest Lake Michigan crossing he has done with a continuous heading. The weather coming in was a little ominous. It looked like it was raining south of here and later during the day we did get a few rain drops; when I say few I mean you could count them. Before the rain we did make it out to walk through town. We stopped at Cosmic Candy for ice cream and a wine store for some wine.  I got a local Pinot Griot and a nice Ferrari Carano Cabernet. We plan on sharing the local tonight and have the cab with dinner tomorrow night.  

After returning from our walk and arguing with the kids about who gets to push the stroller among other things, Susan had enough of the boys whining, screaming and not sharing and told them "this is the last time on a Michigan trip, I have had enough...!". At this point we separated the boys, so Peyton thought it would be a good time to try some fishing. It was unproductive for fish, but it let the two of them have a break and let Susan regroup. After Peyton gave up on the fish he and I went for a dinghy ride around Pentwater lake. The boys like to push us to or limits. It is definitely manic how we have such highs and lows.

Tomorrow we will be going to the beach and hopefully have a great day. It looks like the weather is going to cooperate.

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Day 2: Should'a Could'a Would'a


Pierce Swimming with Mom and Peyton being a fish

Today we awoke to a sprinkle of rain on the boat. Not even enough to get the ground wet, so we tuned into the weather and saw storms to the south and storms to the west. We thought maybe we should go across lake Michigan in between the storms, but the one to the west was heading over at 60mph.  It looked strong and was covering half of the state. When it finally arrived I was driving around getting some groceries and could count the rain drops on the windshield. While out I went down to the Sturgeon Bay Coast Guard station out on lake MI and saw that even though the wind was blowing from the east the lake looked surprisingly good. I came back and said we should go, but at this time it was already 5pm. Susan convinced me to hold off (we should have went across).  
Peyton in the dinghy after we blew it up

One thing holding me back is the radar is not working. We spent big money this spring on a raymarine c90w, and the damn thing has never worked right. We even have the big-special-brand-new raydome. I am soooo pissed about that. I spent about 1.5hrs today pulling it all apart making sure the wires are all correct, making sure they are not run next to other things that may interfere. We will have it looked at when we are across, or if we are here next week I will just have it looked at here.

So today we went to the pool and swam a bit and got Pierce to relax. He had a episode where he drank some water on winnebago that has made him gun shy with going in. We also got the dinghy out blew it up and our patch held, so after dinner we went across the channel and got ice cream downtown. 

Just have to wait and see what tomorrow brings....

Day 1: Preparation - Fri July 22, 2011

5AM, early start to the day as there is quite an extensive list of things to do. Need to find the hole in the dinghy, pack the boat, run to stores (yet again), get the boat onto the trailer, wait and wait and wait for UPS and then finally drive to Sturgeon Bay. At 6:00 we were able to locate the hole in the dinghy and it couldn't have been in the worst place, fortunately we had all the items that we needed to do the repair, patch, glue and instructions, or so we thought! As our luck would have it, as we prepared to glue the patch to the dinghy the glue ended up being as solid as a rock. It always seems as if we are going to one store or another so we add a trip to West Marine to the list of destinations for the day. Unfortunately they don't open until 9, so it is more waiting, but it really doesn't matter as we need to wait for the AMP to come from UPS. God forbid we take a vacation without a thumping stereo, for those of you that don't know me very well, that was typed with much sarcasm!!!!! Our friends at UPS tell us our package is out for delivery and will be there sometime between 9AM and 7PM, feel like I am waiting for the cable guy, and we don't know if a signature is required to obtain the package, so we are always leary to leave the house, yet the boat is not ready and only about a quarter of the things we need to pack are actually packed. So the preperation continues, packing, packing and more packing. I often wonder where in the world I am going to put this stuff once I get it to the boat, but I will deal with that later, fortunately I have this great gift to pack 100 pounds of crap into a 5 pound bag :)

We get everything into the truck to take to the boat by around 9:30 including bikes, bags, food and of course all of the electronics that we cannot live without and head down to the boat. After getting the bikes set and the 100 pounds of crap on board, Paul heads off to West Marine while I ponder how to get everything stored aboard while managing the kids. We get everything done and head back home a couple of hours later and don't find a package yet, but fortunately we were able to get the patch on the dinghy, we just can't blow it up or use it for 24 hours, so looks like we won't be crossing to Manistee today... that is of course if we want to risk crossing with a flat dinghy... that sounds funny doesn't it... flat dinghy!!

After lunch we head back to the boat to now get it on the trailer. For anyone that has watched a boat launch for any extended period of time, this process can either make or break a marriage. I have often enjoyed time spent at High Cliff Marina watching couples try to launch or trailer boats and it is always free entertainment, especially when it is 80+ outside. Fortunately for us it went fairly easy and the kids cooperated wonderfully. With the boat attached to the truck, we are almost ready and the anticipation is getting the kids excited. So excited, Pierce fell asleep! It was so cute, earlier in the day Peyton packed snacks for him and his brother, and as Pierce saw this at the house he immediately wanted to eat them but Peyton held his ground and said these were for the drive to Sturgeon Bay... but they ended up completely forgetting about them later in the day, but it is the thought that counts. So we take the boat home and see a UPS druck driving curiously stalking the neightborhood. I think, could it possibly be that the package would be arriving at our house at the same point as we are ready to leave, nah we are never that lucky!!!

So I typed this really long extension to wrap this post up and then the computer went out and I lost it... so I am not typing it again. Guess these memories will have to just be kept in my own head. AAGGHHH. next time will write this in MS word and use copy and paste.

In short, drove to Sturgeon Bay, launched the boat, staying at Quarterdeck Marina and went to eat. You want to know more, give me a call and I will tell you about it. Stupid Computer! Till tomorrow.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Destination: Manistee MI

It has been decided. We are going to Manistee Michigan on our trip this year. I know prior to this we were heading north and it was dictated by our oldest, but we decided just to get back to Wisconsin on the following Friday to make it easier on all. We will drop him with his mom and step dad as they are driving around back to lower MI. Lake Michigan vacations are all about being agile and having the flexibility to change for a verity of reasons.


Manistee Michigan really looks like a nice little spot. We plan on making that our home port and do day trips to close cities. Having the dinghy with the motor is going to be very nice so we can explore the inland lake as well. I am looking forward to taking the kids on the S.S. Milwaukee tour. From what I have read it is a very nice tour and a great look back in maritime history. The plan at the end of the week is to head north to Frankfort, MI, and cross back on Friday. Jacobsen marina in Frankfort has been in our trip every year so far. It is comfortable, we really enjoy the convenience of the town and the short crossing back to WI. Although, going to Manistee from Sturgeon Bay really only adds 10 miles or so.

The final weekend on our trip, after dropping off our oldest, we plan to hook up with some friends who could not make it out with us on Lake Winnebago a few weekends ago due to a family member with cancer was not doing well. We hope the weather is nice and we can entertain them in Sturgeon Bay. Lord knows they need it after the long struggle of watching a close family member lose their battle with cancer.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Just me my family and my Johnson

I bought a 9.9 johnson today from a friend. Looking forward to trying out on the dinghy. Looks like sunday will be our first chance. It should push that little boat very fast. I am sure it will be just like in this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxVH5sKUlPg

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Davits Installed

This spring we purchased a used quicksilver dinghy. It is in good shape, but I do not like the options for placement of the davit pads. On Saturday we had to move the already installed davits on the swim platform. Screwed that up! Ended up drilling five more holes than necessary;lost a drill bit in the lake and made a few runs either home, or to the hardware store. As for the extra holes, there is some glass work we planned on doing at the end of the season, so I guess we just have a little bit more to do.

Tonight we glued on the pads which required trimming the pads due to the limited options on the inflatable. I purchased the glue from weaver and followed their shity instructions. Hopefully it ends up working out.

I also am buying a 9.9hp Johnson short shaft from a friend with very low hours, so once we have this all done we should be set.

Oh yeah, the trip has been modified again! But I will save that for another day...

Friday, July 1, 2011

Neenah

I love staying in Neenah!

I have said it, and have witnessed others state it...if I came across this city on lake MI I would love it, and it may be a favorite.

This little city with shattuck park, the public library, walk through fountain, downtown and first class national recognized hospital all within a few steps is amazing. Tomorrow we will wake up to a farmers market outside our dock. We will walk maybe one hundred steps downtown (i will count tomorrow) and hit the coffee shop and bread store for a iced intelligenceia americano and a cinnamon roll to die for. On our way back from downtown we will grab some fresh egg rolls and fresh vegetables for the weekend and will be off for our weekend on the lake. We will go to another spot where we can have a camp fire, but it will not be as nice as what we have at home. The only reason we leave is to make sure the boat runs!;-)

Happy independence America!

www.nbdclub.org

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Where to go?

Over the winter months we contemplated going south on the lake for our annual trip. We discussed going to Grand Haven, Ludington and possibly stopping in Holland to visit some new friends we met over the winter. However, I think we will be heading north out of Sturgeon Bay again. This year we may shoot for a single destination rather than marina hop. 

Peyton will be vacationing with his mom the week after our trip in lower MI at Intermediate Lake, so he will be driving our direction due to logistics of dropping him off with his mom. Currently, it looks like Elk Rapids will be the destination. Due to the length of this run we may use Leland again as our transient safe harbor on both runs across. Elk Harbor is in the Travers Bay area and has a festival every year called Harbor Days which we will be missing by one week. Oh well…maybe next time.

We are excited to just have a destination.  The thought is it may be a little more relaxing.  Hopefully we do not have any surprises like last year that drove our trip to marinas we had not intended to visit.  May be we should not have a plan at all.  Without a plan you cannot be disappointed when things do not work out and with boating on Lake MI sometimes mother nature just does not work out.     

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Reason

So this blog was created to inform family and friends of our adventure across Lake Michigan.  It was also considered the "Captains Log" and an experiment in blogging for something I was doing at work.  There was one other reason....I wanted a spot for my kids to go when they were older and wanted to remember the trips of a lifetime they went on.  I think that sometimes they do not understand how fortunate they are with all they do. 

Now going back and reading last years trip has made me remember details that I may not have remembered otherwise...