Sep 26 - a new Quicken expense category

Yes. I used to simply lump any gas purchases for the boat in with the car, since it was immaterial, but when you go out and put 40 gallons of gas in the boat and buy 2 gallons of oil at the same time, especially when the ethanol-free gas at the marina costs $1 more than gas on the street ... well, you get the idea. It "used to be" that our gas usage here in Florida was almost minimal, compared to up north ... now that will not be true.

We left here around 9:30 yesterday and got back just before 6pm. We first stopped at NCW so that I could check to see if I could buy gas (yes) and could they add oil at the same time (yes). We then drove the remaining couple of hundred yards to the east boat launch since the west boat launch is under construction. It was busy, but I soon had the boat in the water and the car & trailer parked somewhere on the grass. There was a police car sitting there watching all the boat launchings and I was quite surprised to see that he never asked me about my lack of plate on the trailer. I had my paper temporary tag ready to show him, but perhaps he was only interested in expired plates.

Launching was easy. The slips are literally only about 6-8 inches wider than my trailer on both sides. The trailer is long, so it's easily maneuverable. The day went well until I went to re-trailer the boat. There were many boats being picked up at that time and the standard routine is to drive the boat onto the trailer, gunning the engine until the boat is right up to the tongue. It looks easy, but it's not when the dock sides are so close and the dock is metal. A little sideways drift and I took out a little chunk of gel-coat low on the passenger side ... grrr ... first mark on the boat on the first day. I'm going to have a go at repairing that later today.

The rest of the day out went very well. We went from the boat launch to the Marina, filled up with gas and oil, watched them launch a couple boats with their huge fork lift (capacity 8000 pounds !), and then headed out for our ride. Up the ICW as usual to Ponce Inlet and then out onto the ocean. The swells were ... swell ? ... not really rough but we'd have turned back as usual with the Bayliner. We futzed around out on the ocean for close to an hour and then back to the island to let Abby have a run. We anchored in front of the island and had to disembark into the water. The built-in ladder works well. The new anchor held quite nicely. I need a new anchor for the back ... those vinyl covered ones that worked reasonably well with the Bayliner do not work with this boat.

I also found out that a good 8 pound anchor with 4 feet of chain and lots of rope has an amazing hold. Now I know why we were not able to anchor the Bayliner in the Inlet last year -- bad anchor, no chain, short rope -- other than that we were in good shape !

After a time on the beach we headed north on the ICW, getting up to Caribbean Jack's for lunch and then northward again to Highbridge. The trip back was uneventful and non-stop, taking 2 hours 15 minutes. We were mostly cruising around 22 mph, varying the speed per the break-in period, and of course at times traveling slow in the manatee zones. The boat BPS -- a Humminbird 363 -- has a variety of views showing typical depth / fishfinder view as well as a variety of chart views. It has built-in maps and they're probably more than adequate for our needs. We can input long / lat combinations to get to sea-buoys if we head out to the ocean and the GPS will then get us back home even in we're out of sight of land.

In total, we went close to 80 miles, burned probably 30 gallons of gas, don't know exactly, put 5.5 hours on the motor hour-meter and absorbed a ton of UV in spite of the bimini top.

Back home -- yes, the X5 did pull the boat out of the water and back onto our lawn, much smoother parking job this time, Sandy immediately rushed off to buy fish because they close at 6pm. Later on we both agreed that we were still too full from lunch to eat said fish (tuna) so that will be dinner tonight.

I spent about 1/2 hour washing down the boat, probably much more than necessary. The built-in motor flush device is much more friendly than starting the engine. The trailer has brake-flush attachments -- all in all a lot of flushing !

We plan on going out again tomorrow. Sandy has appointments on Tuesday so I'll bike that day. We'll go out again, weather permitting on Wednesday and then hopefully take it directly to the dealer for its 10 hour checkup. I may take it to a gas station and put ethanol fuel into it, which, according to the dealer, is not a problem as long as I keep using their stabilizer ... which I've started using. The Marina had a sample jar of gas station fuel on display that had three layers -- gas (top), ethanol (middle) and crud (bottom). It was almost 50% ethanol. According to the fellow the ethanol separates from the gas and stays at the bottom of the gas station's tanks so you get much more than the advertised 10% ethanol.

If all works out well at the Marina, it will go to their slip when I get the boat back from the dealer Thursday night. I'll probably come home, go boating on Friday and then leave it at the Marina. Many things could get in the way of that plan -- we don't have a contract with the Marina yet -- but hopefully it works out that way. I was thinking this morning on the way back from Mass that it would have been lovely to simply call the Marina this morning, say that we'll be there in 1/2 hour, go out for a ride to the island and give Abby a run, then return to the Marina. Much less hassle will mean more boat usage. More frequent boat usage will mean more short trips, less inclination to go out for a marathon ride just because the boat is in the water.

That said, we did talk about longer trips. At 2.25 hours to Highbridge and another couple of hours to St. Augustine, we'll probably do a trip there soon, finding a place to stay overnight. There may be a yacht club there affiliated with the SYC so that would be our first point of inquiry. Similarly there will be trips southwards that we can make -- Sebastian (Bev and Bruce) @ 100 miles; Hobe Sound (Uncle Phil & Aunt Ruth) at 160 miles -- we could easily do a multi-day trip with stops with relatives ! We need to check out places to moor as well as check out charts etc. for those trips.

Abby doesn't know what is in store for her. I think that she gets bored just riding in the boat but there are places to stop for her to run. With the boat having a fresh-water tank, pump and hose-down, that makes it easier to have stops along the way.

The water is not refreshing, however. 89.6F was the highest water temperature that I saw and 87.something the lowest, other than out in the ocean where it was 86.something. I'm sure that it hit 90 but I couldn't watch the GPS all the time.

This morning, after Mass, I installed that Rain Handler behind the den. I under-ordered the drip edge extender so have to order more of that (my bad). I believe that it will work well, based on my hose-on-the-roof tests. If I'm happy with it during a rainstorm I'll then do the front of the house.

Onward !