Rain, Cabin Fever and Boat Shows



Rain, rain, and more rain! The Vero Beach City Marina mooring field has over 100 boats, and just about everyone is hunkered down below decks waiting for the rain and wind to stop. Some come ashore in their dingy all bundled up in foul weather gear to do the laundry or catch the free bus to Publix to do some grocery shopping, but for the most part the marina is pretty much empty of people ashore. A week ago, we had 4-inches of rain in one 24-hour period, a record for that particular calendar day.

But I really don't mind the rain so much. I have a nice, new lightweight, breathable rain jacket with a hood that keeps me dry when I go outside, and my nylon cargo shorts dry quickly enough. The boat I'm on (a Ranger Tug 21ec) stays dry below decks. In all of the sailboats I've owned over the years, hatches and windows leaked, and condensation built up inside along with mold, but this little boat is as tight as a drum. I have a small electric space heater that takes away the chill and humidity, so I'm quite comfortable below decks just surfing the Internet and listening to Pandora on my Logitech Squeezebox Internet radio.

I was feeling a bit of cabin fever, and so decided to motor down to Fort Pierce. I wanted to haul out one last time to check the zincs on the running gear. It was a two hour trip down, five minutes to have the forklift haul me out and drop me back in, and then two hours back again. The zincs were fine, and the bottom paint is really doing a good job of keeping growth at bay. I used Pettit's Eco bottom paint with Econea, a new product this year, and I'll stick with it next year. The trip back was into an apparent wind of about 20 knots and into one to one-and-a-half foot chop. There was a lot of spray splashing the windows, and I had the wipers running most of the time. It felt exhilarating to be underway again.

Been enjoying talking with Brian, a Canadian fellow who is down here staying in a diesel Mercedes conversion van in the marina parking lot. He is in the process of looking at buying a live-aboard boat and was interested in the Ranger Tug 21ec. We talked about the merits of various boats -- the C-Dory 25, the Ranger Tug 25 and 27, the Rosborough 246, the new Cutwater 26 -- and we agreed that the larger boats would be more comfortable, but the question unanswered was were they worth an additional $100,000? I'm pretty satisfied with the 21ec, but I plan to visit the St. Petersburg Boat show next week to look at what's out there. I want to see how I feel about living aboard after doing it for a winter season before making any major decisions. If I am still happy with the live-aboard lifestyle, maybe I'll sell my Indiana condo and purchase a bigger boat. Who knows? Maybe there is a "Lil' Green Tug 2" in my future!

(Update 12/5/2013 -- Just back from the St. Petersburg Boat Show where I boarded a Ranger Tug 27. I didn't like it. I'm starting to think that maybe I've already got the perfect boat for me. That's a good thing as I'll save US$100,000 by not upgrading. :-)

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