Boat is in the shop and we went EATING

Day 35: Monday, March 30, 2015

Believe it or not, I didn’t sleep well in my first night in a large, king size bed that didn’t roll.  I got up in the middle of the night and typed on the blog but that wasn’t enough to stimulate sleep either.

We were at the breakfast bar in the motel when they opened at 6:30 and enjoyed the Hispanic chef who tried his best to make the wakeup on Monday morning for his guests a positive experience. 

Removing old Keel

I left the motel before 7:00, drove to Sandspit Park where we had left the boat, hooked her up behind the truck and arrived at the Hake Yacht factory at 7:25 as the workers were unlocking the gates. 

I backed the boat into the yard and they immediately moved her into the large bay and proceeded to work on removing the mast and finally the old keel.  They had to remove the cover over the winch that raises the board and then the winch. The original winch is still good, however, they have a new high tensile strength rope system that raises the keel so I get to purchase a new winch that facilitates that system.  I assumed that they would have to raise the boat really high to get the board out but they actually took it out through the top.  They attached a winch to the board and easily lifted it out.

The newly fabricated keel has 3 stainless steel all thread rods that are imbedded in the full length of the structure and will bolt the 990 pound

lead “torpedo” onto the bottom.  One workman and the shop foreman worked all day mounting the new winch, configuring the board, wiring in a new switch system for raising the board, and finally installing the new keel.  Tomorrow, the boat will be lifted off the trailer and the torpedo will be bolted in place.  They will then add fiberglass fairings to streamline the whole structure.

Old Keel where missing Torpedo was attached

At the end of the day, I returned to the motel and picked up Janine who spent the day doing our large pile of laundry and we headed for downtown Stuart for dinner.  The historic downtown area is really neat with many high end shops and eating establishments, obviously an attraction for the tourists who flock to this area at

Installing new Keel

this time of the year 

We selected a place called Mulligans for our dining pleasure.  We both enjoyed what was almost a lobster salad with parmesan cheese on toasted flat bread.  After dinner we walked the streets looking in shop windows and had a cup of New Orleans praline ice cream.

New keel from under the boat showing the three stainless steel all thread rods.

Installing new 990 pound lead  torpedo onto the bottom of keel

Back in the motel, we both started reading and when my phone dinged for a text message, we realized that we had both fallen asleep and had passed through our usual bedtime hour.