Spent the first days outfitting the boat by installing things like teak parts to hold plates, silverware and cups. Visits to Walmart provided "storage solutions"; i.e., mainly giant Tupperware like containers to store stuff in. Also had to visit the local Nix Upholstery people who are making two inch thick cushions to add to the V-berth cushions the boat came with. No way you can sleep on them without aches and pains in your hips and shoulders, but I think the new cushions will solve that problem. They took two inches off all the boat's curtains except the two front side windows which are much larger and, for which, all the curtains in the boat seemed cut to fit. Installed an LED in the anchor light, per advice from Tugnuts, from Marinebeam to save lots of power from the weeks I plan to spend on anchor...well maybe not weeks.
Here's some pictures of Alto's composting toilet, called the Air Head, http://www.airheadtoilet.com/. No carrying around 30 gallons of waste or messy pump-outs. I met a couple that had sold their expedited (special cargo, fast) trucking company and house, and bought a trimaran on which they figured they could travel for about 10 years before needing to go back to work. They use an Air Head exclusively and as live-aboards they get about 30 days use before he dumps the compost into a 5 gallon pail which he then lightly covers and sits on the boat's foredeck for another month until it decomposes enough to dump out as fertilizer. No smell. With use by two people over weekends, or one week a month as we do, we should get an entire season before we have to empty the toilet's solid container into a bag or bucket to wait for final decomposition. We can add an enzyme to the bag to speed up the final decomposition, too. The unit needs continual venting which we attached to the old head's outlet hose (see bottom right photo) to vent it right under the deck. Instead of carrying waste and going to the aft black water tank, the line now carries air and was redirected to a powered outlet vent in the transom. Uses very little power off the batteries. Our waste tank is now a spare 30 gallon fresh water tank since we bought the boat new and it had, thank God, never been used.
After finishing maintenance tasks, I headed down river (north) to Hontoon State Park to spend the night. They have about 50 slips, all with 30 amp power and water and each is $25 night regardless of the size of your boat. The Park is on an island, so there is a ferry that runs back and forth, actually an electric-battery powered pontoon boat which is pretty cool. James is the ranger that usually runs it, take a moment to admire his reconditioned open Boston Whaler-type boat. The ferry is free as is James' humor, and I took it across to the parking area on the other side of the St. Johns River as I had to deliver a guide book to my friend, Frank of the Ainokea, who keeps his tug boat in a small marina on that side of the river. The book (Boating and Cruising Guide to the St. Johns River by Tom Kranz -available at: https://www.bluewaterweb.com ) has tons of charted anchorages that I know Frank likes to study on and visit. Here's a picture from the parking area, which is about a five minute walk from Frank's marina, looking back at the docks on the island. You can just about make out Alto, middle right. Floating docks make it easy for one person to dock and there's usually a helpful person on the docks to lend a hand.
The next day I headed out to fuel up as there's a diesel pump (one of just three in the area I cruise) just north about a half hour from Hontoon, then under the Bascule Bridge. Turned out I had plenty of clearance so I did not have to call and ask for the bridge to be opened. I was worried as my digital gas gauge showed a full tank even after our last trip and the distance I traveled this time, adding up to maybe 15+ hours travel. So I filled up and it took only 13 gallons. I figured out how to set the Garmin to estimate the fuel used (look for a small paragraph in the manual on this) and we'll see if the gauge works next time. Have been slightly overheating, so I'm also watching that problem. The inter-cooled, turbo charged diesel engine in Alto is designed to run hot (around 205ยบ) at full speed to reduce emissions.
I'm now about 20 miles north, or five and a half hours at safe manatee speeds, of the Sanford Boat Works marina where I keep the boat; see previous post. That's at the most southern end of the navigable reach of the river, although it goes south another 40+ miles as shallow water some of which can be travelled by pontoon boat and more of it by air boat. North of Hontoon there are fewer "no wake" or "idle speed only" manatee speed zones so one can make pretty good time. Here, I'm even up on a bit of a plane:
Check out the dead "blind mosquitoes" which are not really blind nor do they bite, on the foredeck. They swarm at various times and are nonbiting, but I've heard stories that other St. Johns sailors have had to use snow shovels to get them off the boat when they reach several inches deep. I keep the canvas up on the aft deck just in case I get attacked. After several hours I decide to try one of the anchorages recommended by Tom Kranz on the Alexander Springs Creek, which is about 10 miles south of Astor, a town on the river. Its 15 miles north of Hontoon and took me about 1 and 3/4 hours to get to. This section of the river, according to Tom Kranz, from Lake Dexter south to Crows Bluff is one of the longest totally wild sections. I saw no development along the way. My navigation system told me I was near the tiny opening of the Creek, where it enters the St. Johns River and its easy to miss. Here's a snap shot of it:
This was a truly beautiful place to drop the anchor. After going around several turns in the creek I found a spot just wide enough to anchor with just 20 feet of chain out in eight feet of water. The boat eventually settled into the middle of the creek facing upstream as the creek slowly moved towards the St. Johns into which it emptied. You want several feet under you to use the generator which sucks up raw water to cool it. I had no need for it until the next morning when I had to run the toaster oven to cook frozen Leggo-my-Eggo Waffles. I turned it off as soon as possible as the silence on the river is part of its allure.
Here are some pictures take from angles as the boat rotated around its anchor. The aft end touched foliage on either bank as the creek was only about 60 feet wide at this point.
Well, after that it was a straight run south back to the Marina. It took four and a half hours to get back over the 35 miles to the dock. I'll button up the boat and head back to Cape Cod the next day. I plan to be back in late March. Will be checking the impeller and other possible causes for the overheating situation. Should have some exciting news about our new V-berth cushions and more, so stay tuned.
