Greetings from the Key West Command Center.

Happy to report we finally made it fishing this past weekend. Overall a typical grinder bite. Could have been better if the sharks were a little better behaved. Plus I had hard time finding some yellowtails till the last stop of the trip. Weather was great. Light wind and easy currents. Nice weekend to be on the water. I think these 2 pictures tell the story.

Last weekend was out first trip since our haul out. I am happy to report all the work we did performed as expected. Well Josh did do one project that we are still fighting with. A pressurized wash down system that kept getting air bound. I think I bailed him out today by replacing the sea strainer. We need to run a trip to see if indeed it is fixed?

Many have asked what did we do during our time in the shipyard? Here is a complete list.

First and most important we had our USCG Hull inspection. As usual the inspectors were very through. Here is what they found-

• A 18 inch section of beam needed to be replaced in the forepeak.
• 3 cracked welds were ground out and re-welded
• Remounting of the fire ax
• Re-seating of a dripless shaft seal.  

All the above requirements were easy fixes. It took less than a day. Good for another 2 years thankfully.

Now for the good stuff. Although the USCG has their agenda and requirements we still had plenty to do. Here goes-

• Sand and paint the hull. 
• Sand and paint the boat strip.
• Sand, prime and paint 3 coats of bottom paint.
• Replace wasted overboard thru hull for air conditioners
• Replace all zinc anodes
• Sand blast, prime and paint spare anchors.
• Swap props
• Install all new sea strainer baskets
• Install all new sea water valves. Made the mistake of using an off brand 4 years ago. Big mistake and I know better. Made in the USA from now on. Pay once, cry once.
• Install another seawater air conditioner pump. We need to have a back up in case the primary one fails. Now we have 2 identical pump plumbed independently. Back up is crucial.
• Install new LED transom lights.

We were out of the water for almost a month. Lousy weather when we worked plus no need to rush because when we did have trips on the books we never would have sailed anyway because of the tropical disturbances that were around. So this was one of the haul outs when we did not need to rush and everything I wanted to get done was done.

So things are winding down here for 2020. Only three trips till we break for the holidays. Hopefully Mother Nature will allow the trips to get off the dock. One trip, the Queen Snapper Hunt has been rescheduled for next week, 12/7/20. Only a handful of anglers were able to make the new date so we have plenty of room. If you are interested please click here. Going to be a light load. Hopefully conditions will be on our side.

So thanks for looking. More after the weekend!

Greg