Preparing Aisling Gheal for cruising -- Jan - March 15, 2018

Beginning the middle of January we worked on getting funds together to purchase the Endeavour 36 Catamaran.  We went to Annapolis for boating items, found two 14 inch wheel folding electric assist bicycles at Marshal's, rehearsed and performed with The Geud Band (an English Country Dance band). 

On January 24 - 26 we drove to Brewerton, NY and offloaded a few remaining items from the Ranger Tug Aisling and got her ready to be put on the market for sale.  This time we took Hans and Greta.  The weather was not too cold and no snow.  We finally had the money wired and completed purchasing the Endeavour 36 Catamaran on Friday, Feb. 2.

We are getting the boat documented by the US Coast Guard and changing the name from "Moonbeam" to "Aisling Gheal".  Aisling Gheal, pronounced Ashling Gale, is Irish Gaelic.  "Aisling" means vision or dream and "Gheal" means bright.

On Monday, Feb. 5 we rented a Budget Truck.  We packed the truck with all of the things we had taken off the Ranger Tug and began the 918 mile trip to Harbortown Marina, Merritt Island, Florida.  We arrived and slept on Aisling Gheal for the first time on Wednesday, Feb. 7.  The next day we unloaded the truck and started finding places for everything.

Loading our boating equipment into the truck

Down the pier with Hans and Greta

Aisling Gheal has two Yanmar 115 HP  engines -- one in each of the port and starboard hulls.  We've never had two engines and when you get used to them the steering into slips is supposed to be very easy.  We had a lesson that went well, with Joe Bradley, the former owner.

We spent from February 10 - March 15 getting ready to cruise.  With a new boat it takes time to learn all the systems. For example, at first we could not get the hot water heater to work. After taking out part of the plumbing near the hot water heater, Jeff finally found the problem. There is a bypass valve that is used when winterizing the system. Just turning the valve was all that was needed.The valve was below everything else and hidden from view in a tight space. It was great to have hot water for washing dishes and taking hot showers!

Bypass valve on the hot water heater

Another project we did was networking the depth sounder and autopilot to the chartplotter. The electronics are located at the helm in a very well sealed compartment. We hated to disturb the compartment which had been neatly sealed with caulking. However when opened, that compartment had been holding water inside and the electrical connections were severely corroded.

Corrosion was found in the electronics area.

Jeff decided that this compartment must be easily accessed, so he installed hinges so it could easily be opened for service. The corroded circuits were moved higher up in the compartment to keep them out of any water and less likely to corrode. The VHF radio needed to be taken to a technician to re-program our own unique FCC radio license MMSI identifier.

Hinges being installed for the electronics area

Another project was to add the networking components to the Raytheon depth sounder and autopilot.  Jeff added a SeaTalk to SeatalkNG converter and made a cable to attach it to the SIMRAD chartplotter NMEA 2000 network.  It was very nice to have the depth and ship's heading information on the display.  Another NMEA 2000 device added was a wind speed instrument which also reports temperature and barometric pressure.

The Seatalk devices were interfaced to the NMEA 2000 network

We enjoyed visiting breweries and a very neat grocery store, Lucky's Market in West Melbourne.  Lucky's is sort of like The Fresh Market and Wegman's and Mom's Organic Markets. They have their own butcher shop and make sausages, bacon, bratwurst. They have a large deli with in house dishes, a salad bar, a hot food bar, and they make there own pizzas. They have a special of two slices of pizza and a drink for $5.00.  In Florida beer and wine are sold in grocery stores.  Beer, wine, hard cider as well as soft drinks were included in the pizza and drink deal. They even have a special drink holder that fits on the grocery cart to hold your drink! Lucky's became a favorite destination.  We also loaded up on many of the bulk chocolate items!

Lucky's Market in West Melbourne

Lucky's Grocery -- sip beer or wine while shopping

While Jeff worked on boat projects Barbie sewed on a quilt using a Singer Featherweight machine, made meals on the induction stove Jeff installed and organized the living spaces on Aisling Gheal.  We made many trips to the Ace Hardware stores, West Marine stores on Merritt Island and West Melbourne and the Home Depot.

A dinghy is an important item of cruising equipment. Our boat already had davits for carrying a dinghy on the stern. We ordered a 9.5 foot RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) from Defender and bought a 9.9 HP Suzuki motor locally. It took a week or so to get all the dinghy systems working smoothly. Jeff also engined the pulley system to efficiently raise the dinghy and motor out of the water onto the davits. Meanwhile we enjoyed taking test rides in the dinghy to break in the motor.

Unpacking the new dinghy

Special gas tank fits in bow of dinghy

Painting boards to hold fire extinguisher.  New dinghy on davits on boat

Dinghy trip to Ski Island on Banana River

Fun times running about in the dinghy on the Canaveral Barge Canal

On Sunday, February 25 we had a renaming ceremony with "mimosas" and two other couples.  Changing a name of a boat can present problems. However, a renaming ceremony should take care of the problems.

Jeff with wine bottle ready for the naming ceremony

That afternoon we got the bikes out and road for a total of 5 miles to a draw bridge.

We missed seeing the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch with the Tesla car but were able to see a much smaller launch of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on March 1.

Cape Canaveral satellite launch, March 1

Originally we had planned to have a shakedown cruise on Aisling Gheal going south to St. Lucie (where we had first seen the Endeavour 36 Catamaran).  Emily and family were going to drive up from Ft. Lauderdale and visit us. About a week before they were to come we realized that we would NOT be cruising yet. Therefore, they visited us at Harbortown Marina March 3 and enjoyed dinghy rides and family time together. It was good we did not cruise south to St. Lucie since their was a cold front and the winds would have been strong!

Emily and family enjoying ice cream on Cocoa Beach

We spent most of Wednesday, March 7, with Greta at The Animal Wellness Center.  On Monday, March 5, she slowing fell backwards down the 2 stairs from the main salon to the starboard side of the boat.  She got up and didn't seem to have a problem. However, by Wednesday she was dragging her hind legs. Greta ended up having a T-thermal (hot pad treatment) and a shot of Adequan. That night Greta had diarrhea in our bed!  Barbie washed all the bedding (luckily the marina had large enough commercial machines). This diarrhea continued for THREE nights! We decided NOT to give her any more shots of Adequan and also discontinued the Desquain since she picked it out of her food.  She is now eating well, running and have normal poop!

Finally we were ready and the weather was good. We left Harbortown Marina on Thursday, March 15.  We filled up with water, had a pump out at the gas dock, filled the dinghy tanks with gasoline and started our journey on Aisling Gheal north to Maryland and the Great American Loop. We were on our way!

Aisling Gheal ready to leave Harbortown Marina