Like a bad penny, I'm baa-ack!

Like sands through the hourglass....

Well, that was a minute. Sorry for the delay on a new post.

So what's been happening in your life, Jeff? Honestly, not much. And I don't even remember what I've all covered in this journey. But anyway, I'm going to continue on, as if those following know what happened last, and if there are questions, you can leave them in the comments.

So I was in Jensen Beach, got the drawer fridge/freezer and it's been working splendidly! Hopefully just saying that doesn't jinx it! But I can fit a months worth of frozen foodstuff in it, and it's working well, considering that I get paid monthly. (Social Security)...

There is space for 2 more of those to the aft in the galley, and I've been thinking about it. It's a big project, involving ripping out the old ice box and reworking the face of the cabinet. If I do that I might also put a drawer or two in beneath them so I can have a bit more storage for kitchen utensils and dry goods. It would be more accessible than behind the counter currently is. But it would be a lot of work and more money than I have available at the moment.

At the moment I do have more important things on which to spend what little money I have (to me at least, and I'm still the only one that counts). But I could see it in the future sometime. It would give me 3 freezers... or 2 freezers and a refrigerator, depending on how I ran the drawer things.

But first! I replaced the dinghy (again), and am looking for a motor for the new one. Kind of a pain since the old one sank. But then, that's the price I pay, I guess. After that, I want to save up and get an arch for the aft. I'm hoping I can mount davits to it and carry the dinghy that way, and put all the antennas and the radar that are mounted on or near the aft rail on top of it. Maybe even mount the wind genny up there as well.

After that, there are a few less expensive things I need to get and then maybe I can think about adding the storage space and freezers.

Anyway, I left Jensen beach in March of 2025 and came back up the ICW to Hampton, VA. Had a few unplanned stops along the way. In South Carolina, a crab pot line got wrapped around my prop (I think) and spent an evening from about 5 to midnight aground with the hull up out of the water (mostly, I think) in a clam/oyster bed because of it. Then was towed someplace and then freed the prop up somehow. (Thank you Tow BoatUS and your subscription!)

Then, just before Leaving North Carolina, I anchored for the night and then in the morning I managed to wrap the dinghy line around the shaft. Called, TowBoat again, realizing that it wasn't simply that shallow, and it wasn't the engine, and that I had actually wrapped the line, I asked the guy coming if he had dive equipment, thinking he could dive on it and cut the line free. Which he did! YAY!... and then while pulling out I did it again somehow. He went down and cut it free again, and off I went this time.

At the Great Bridge public dock, something started smoking from the engine compartment just as I was getting underway to go through the bridge opening. Shut down, ran below, looked, nothing. Couldn't find it, so came up and restarted, and continued on. Thankfully, that was the last of the "excitement" for this trip.

When I got tied up, here in Hampton, I did a thorough check and found one short wire that ran to nowhere. I'm still looking for the other end of it. I may have found the culprit of the smoke as I did find a wire with it's insulation melted away for a very short span (like 1/4" or so. I'm not sure why it would have melted in that exact spot, but I have since run all the electronics and the engine without anything smoking. So I think I'm good, but I am going to go over it again before heading out again.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get back into filming stuff to make videos, and trying to actually do stuff, although for the next week or so it's suppose to not get warmer than 40 degrees F here.

And that's about all the news that's fit to print for now. I am not going to guarantee when the next post will happen, but I am going to try to put something up every Friday going forward.

If you read all the way to the end, thank you SO much. Let me know in the comments and watch for the "Buy me a coffee" button and help this adventure continue if you're so inclined. It would be greatly appreciated.