And SO It Begins.............

 Loading up and moving out

We spent Saturday and Sunday transferring our big load o' stuff from Spirit of Desoto to Iriah Lass.  This process was complicated by the fact that the Lass was still sitting in her storage cradle with the swimstep 7 feet above a concrete floor.   Fortunately, the crew fitting our a 52 foot carbon fiber racing sailboat in the same storage building loaned us a ladder.  And help heave a few of the heavier items up for us.  Thanks, guys.

On Saturday and Sunday,  as we begin to stow clothes and equipment, we encountered an immediate  cleanliness issues.  The carpet cleaning we had contracted for took place over the winter, a planned.  But subsequent work by Eldean's mechanical and electrical crews tracked back dirt on the steps and carpet around the engine room hatch in the main cabin.   Very sloppy.   Forunately, the carpet guy came back early Monday before we launched and cleaned up the mess.  But the whole incident was SO unecessary and set a bad tone for the rest of our time at Eldean.  We later found similar poor housekeeping below decks in the engine room, with bits of wire and electrical fasteners and shop towels strewn about.  Very frustrating, on top of the exhausting work of shifting all of our cargo.  We hope the repairs we paid for meet a higher standard than their housekeeping.

Meanwhile Admiral Maggie luxuriated in the king-sized comfort at the Home2 Suites by Hilton.  Sheesh.

😝PPHHHHHTTTT!!!!!😝

We launched on Monday at 1:00 PM.   Both engines started easily and we navigated to our assigned slip.  (Didnt even hit nothin, neither!  👍)  Wade began checking for leaks, etc while Commadore Kathleen made an initial grocery run. We moved aboard Monday evening.  Heavy sigh!

Tuesday, we had a date at another marina to meet our new friend Chris from Canvas Innovations, from whom we had ordered a new front bridge enclosure last fall.   It is not unusual for boat yards to assess a surcharge for work done on their premises by outside contractors. But Eldean's 25% rate was more than we could stomach.  (This despite the fact that Eldean A) does not have a canvas shop and B) recommended Canvas Inovations for our work.  Sheesh.)   By moving a few miles up Lake Macatawa to MEYR Yacht Restoration , we cut this premium to 10%  AND we got to moor at MEYR's brand new floating docks AND we were much closer to town for further provisioning.  Chris's team met us at the docks and went to work making precise laser measurements and discussing attachment options.  They then retreated to their sewing facility, promising to return on Friday with the finished product.   What's not to like?

Well, alternators, for one thing.  Long-time readers will recall our ongoing struggles with alternators.   Since purchasing the boat in 2020, we have replaced the starboard alternator twice.  Last year, the port alternator begin giving us trouble intermittently,   So much so that we intimidated it into compliance by purchasing a spare to keep on board.  

Well, on the short trip from Eldean Shipyard to MEYR, it dropped any pretence of intermittance and the alarm light flashed and the alarm horn honked pretty constantly.   And no amount of belt tightening and wire wiggling would silence it.  Clearly the time had come to replace it.  (Alternators live a hard life  and at 1150 hours of engine time, its not surprising it had failed.  But the timing sure sucks.)  

But apparently, in this post-pandemic, inflation-ridden, short-staffed world, all boat yards are back to being "booked out six weeks."   So, with the new alternator on one hand and the 50 lbs of tools he packed into the boat on the other, Wade decided it was DYI time.   Hey, its like two bolts, one belt, and four wires, right?  What could possibly go wrong?  I mean,  40 years ago, he swapped a generator on a 68 VW bus.  How much harder could this be really?

Well, actually, not much.  On Wednesday morning (Commadore Kathleen wisely left for the grocery store at this point) within an 90 minutes he had the old unit dismounted, and was sweet-talking the MEYR shop into swapping the pulley.   An hour later the new unit was in place and carefully reconnected, using the wiring to the starboard alternator as a guide.  When Kathleen returned, he had it all buttoned back up.  And, after a brief prayer, we hit the starter button.  And it turned!  And it ran!! And it charged to 14 volts!!!  An NO ALARMS SOUNDED!!!!  Thank. You.  Dear.  Lord!

Thursday morning was devoted to shifting the dinghy from the foredeck where it spent the winter to the davit on the swim platform.  This proved to much easier than lifting it  last fall for storage.  Jur tie it off and toss it over the rail.  (Gravity and botancy are our friends.)  Then it was off the Walmart and Costso on yet another provisioning run.  (The larder is full!)   We closed out Thursday at dinner with old friends Glenn and Nancy Teall, who live in the Grand Rapids area. 

Friday was designated as both Canvas Day and Departure Day, in that order.   Canvas arrived at about 10:00 am with Chris, Mitch and the crew working diligently to make everything fit correctly.  The result is downright beautiful and dramatically improves oiour forward vision while underway.   And, as subsequent heavy rains proved, it also keeps the bridge area drier.   So, except for the number of boat units on the invoice (Sheesh!), we re very happy with it.  

Canvas crew at work.  Yay!

By 1:00 PM, Deparure Day had arrived.   We set off west out of Lake Macatawoc to enter Lake Michigan and turned north.  Our destination Grand Isle  Marina in Grand Haven, MI.   This departure broke one of our cardinal rules, to leave early and to be off the water by 2:00 to avoid the inevitable afternoon heat-driven winds.   So it was a rolly, lumpy ride up the coast, with NW winds on the port bow of 15-ish knots and a weird WSW swell hitting us sideways.  We were NOT a happy ship (especially fur-Admiral Maggie)   

But it was only 27 miles and two and a half hours until we tied up at our destination for cocktails and  a nice ribeye grilled on the swim step BBQ.  And we are now officially UNDERWAY!!!

Important Reminder

Don't forget you can track us on the free NEBO boat tracking app.  Go to www.nebo.global  or in your favorite app store.  Once you have it installed, a quick search on "Irish" should find us.   (Note: Beware the similarly-named digital notebook app.  That ain't the right one.)

Thanks for following.

Wade and Kathleen Griffith (and fur-Admiral Maggie)