Sunset Bay Mooring Ball Refit

...the Apex Marine Dock we worked off of....

We last were in Apex Marine, Stuart Florida where Mack Sails installed our new 4G B&G Radar antenna and our new digital anemometer on top of the mast. After a day there, we moved around the corner to Sunset Bay Marina where we secured a mooring ball to continue our refit #3 work. This is a great location and Stuart Florida in Martin County could become one of our new favorite locations along the USA East Coast. The town is great, the county has manged it well in respect to development and planning and there are many services here.

We installed new Mack Sails while here, beautiful

The main reason we are here is the Mack Sails company. www.MackSails.com, Colin Mack has been our connection along with his brother, Travis, both of whom run a fantastic business. They are fully on top of their customer service and support. We have worked with many yacht service companies and Mack Sails is currently one of the top by far. We have a lot more work to complete and are really thrilled to be working with this team. Mack Sails is THE place for any of your boat's needs.

One of the seminars we attended
The French Canals and Waterways!

While here, we decided to take a break from working on the boat and drive up to Melbourne for the SSCA.org GAM. It was really fun to meet some amazing world sailors and Caribbean sailors. We had lunch with several people who have spent many years in the western Caribbean, our current goal. What a wonderful event with seminars, lunch gatherings, and exhibitor displays. Radeen and I really enjoyed attending for two of the four days. If you are ever in Melbourne FL in the beginning of Nov, then this is a must attend event.

Triton2 the new B&G gear is powered up

After two days at the GAM, Fri and Sat, we drove back to the boat to get back to work on the refit. The first challenge was to finish the NMEA 2000 backbone wiring with the mast work and the radar and wind sensor. Then we needed to add a 12 volt power tap into the electrical connections so that when we turn on the "Instruments" switch, our new B&G electronics will be powered up. We removed the old wiring and then installed the new wiring and on Sunday morning we flipped the switch and there it was....a NEW B&G Triton2 display up and running. WOW, what a great piece of programming and software. The new Triton2 configured itself and found all the other new equipment plugged into the network. All I had to do was press enter, enter, enter and watch it fire up. We are able to click through 15 various screens of data all coming from the many sensors installed on the boat. WOW, what great gear. So far, we are delighted with the appearance of the display and the ease of use.

Our next task is to install the new NavPod at the helm, as soon as it is delivered, and then plug into the backbone a new Zeus2, a pilot controller, and another Triton2 display right at the helm. All the wiring has been run and all we need to do is to cut holes into the NavPod for the displays and then plug them into the backbone.  Our old VHF will be replaced with a new Standard Explorer integrated GPS VHF with a RAM mic. Once again, our ram mic is old, the wires are frayed and worn, so we want to make sure we have a very dependable VHF. That will be the final install. Then we will need to commission the new pilot and the new compass, but that is relatively easy. So, one week into the new install and we are nearly finished. This has gone far better than expected. B&G Triton2 gear is amazing!

Here are more photos.

This is the APEX Marine work dock. We are to the left of the large blue boat.

Our 180 degree view from our mooring ball in the front row at Sunset Bay Marina. Dinghy dock to the right.

Island Spirit on the mooring ball

We took a quick 1hr drive with Terri of IP38 Sailbatical to visit Blaine Parks when he sailed into Vero.
He was on a delivery with a new crew member, Al.

The JAM session at the SSCA GAM, always fun to hear these guys

Radeen and Hayden with their bags as we depart the hotel room

We scored some great cruising guides given out by Colombia and Panama!

Our dear friend, Bob Wiley, IP380 Judith III, is always here for us when we sail or drive into Florida.
We also enjoyed visiting with Terri of IP38 Sailbatical, Ceal, former IP owner, Dick and Carol of IP44 Gusto and their amazing single handed sailing friends, Ann, Judy and Arlene. Finally, we enjoyed an excellent presentation by Bill and Amy of IP38 Estralita about sailing in Southeast Asia during their circumnavigation. What a great time!

We bought some cruising guides to the Western Caribbean as well.

Back onboard, we hooked up the Radar interface into the backbone

We removed old wiring and ran some new wiring

There it is, the new B&G Triton2 powered up and working

Walking around the town of Stuart, FL, a great location to live

Typical town condos

We are the sailboat to the right

Every night the marina has a fire pit to gather around, very nice

The SUPER MOON rises off our stern in beautiful weather.

 Tomorrow, Monday, we will remove our boom and take it to Mack Sails where it will be modified for a simple single line reefing system. We will be removing the shuttle cars in the boom as they are a bad design and always bind up. Bye bye to them. Refit #3 moving along.