It’s Saturday morning and we have officially owned our new boat, Pandora for two days. Yesterday, I took her from the dock for the first time. I have to say that I was nervous and wasn’t very confident about how she would react to the helm and propeller and being alone didn’t make me feel any more certain. Fortunately, the instruments and software on the plotter are nearly identical to our last boat, which made it easier.
I did have someone cast my lines off from the dock and I was also thankful that there was only a slight breeze and current. Oh yeah, I used the bow thruster. Pretty neat. Actually, a lot of problems can be cured with that little baby. I am sure that I’ll learn to work it fairly quickly but for now I am unsure, at best.
I was moving over to another yard, a “working” yard nearby with “working” being code for pretty rough. However, Joe the welder, perhaps the owner, not sure, at the yard does very good work and seems reasonably priced. The plan is to have him put on a new set of custom stainless davits so I can pull the dink up and also have a spot to mount some additional solar. It was a very tight squeeze to get the boat into the slip stern in. However, Joe and some others met me and helped guide me in.
With the thruster it was pretty easy. I can see why “traditionalists” scoff at thrusters. However, I was in no mood to put a scratch on my new boat. Mission accomplished. To be clear, that’s on a successful docking, not scratching.
Here’s Pandora in her temporary home. Tight? Yup. Davits to come. 
Yes, the cockpit is trashed. In order to weld onto the arch we had to remove all the wiring, lest it melt from the heat of the welding. Let me tell you, removing all the wires from the arch and replacing them with wire messengers was no simple task. However, by the end of the day, all was ready. Now, they have to build the davits. I am told that they will have everything done by this evening. I sure hope so as my crew arrives tomorrow morning. What a mess. Well, at least I now have nice clean stern lockers. There must be a half mile of spare lines in the starboard locker. And, four fuel cans and plenty of other stuff in the port one. Unfortunately, some of that “stuff” leaked out in the starboard locker so there was a nasty oily mess to clean up. Good news, it’s clean now.
As is the case at most shops that I have seen in FL, the fabrication area is outside here. It looks chaotic but they do very nice work here. Note the welder’s clothing. The locals that work outside take sun exposure very seriously and cover up every part of their body. Tourists could learn a thing or two from them. They say that “there’s no such thing as a good tan”. With my yearly derm visit, I have to agree.
A show of another “local” a young manatee napping near Pandora. Cute in a sort of nasty way.
For such a populated area, there is indeed a lot of wildlife. This heron was looking for a hand out. “Did someone say bait? I’ll take a dozen.”
My friend Carl, an ex SAGA 43 owner, who lives nearby, stopped to see the new boat a few days ago and took me out to run errands. Along the way we stopped at a marine consignment shop. Actually, this was the marine consignment shop to end all marine consignment shops. While most shops I have visited have a lot of used equipment (reads junk), this one had mostly new “extra” stuff from boat builders and suppliers, left over from changed models or perhaps places that have gone out of business.
Anyway, imagine “used” marine equipment that would fill a small Walmart. A ton of stuff. The first thing you see as you enter the parking lot is hundreds of bimini frames, center console stations and dozens of huge fuel tanks all stacked up in rows. And, they are all unused and look brand new. I would expect that it would be a lot less expensive to have something modified to fit a boat from one of these as opposed to building one from scratch. Take your pick. 
Need some instruments to put in that nice, shiny, and new center console boats? Take your pick…from hundreds, all new.
Don’t want to drill all those holes? How about a full panel system? Yeah, they have em.
How about a propeller to round things out?
Electrical panels? Hmm… so hard to choose.
I wish that I had known about this before I bought my new muffler the other day. Alas, they didn’t have one that would have fit. I checked, of course, while I was there just to torture myself. 
Of course, you need shade. Bimini anyone? Water tanks? The list goes on and on… That’s my friend Carl. He was hard at work choosing and he doesn’t even own a boat. But, perhaps he can make one from spare parts. So many choices. 
I have no idea what was on this row. However, I am sure that it would all come in handy. 
Anyway, you get the picture. This place is sort of the guy version of a shoe outlet. “Oh honey, wouldn’t this pair of speedos look perfect aboard?” “Whatever… “
Well, I guess that’s enough for now. I think I have made my point.
Let’s hope that all goes well as there is a LOT that has to go well today to keep everything on schedule.
Oh yeah, the title “Departure soon…” I put that in to remind myself that time’s short and crew arrives tomorrow. Yikes…
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