More Aluminum Sailing Dinghies

In response to my post about the aluminum Gouget Moth, several readers sent in some aluminum sailing dinghies they have come across.

Australian "R.L". sent two photos of a welded aluminum version of the Australian 11 Aquanaut Dinghy, masterfully crafted.

Mike Scott owned a prototype De Havilland 12 aluminum dinghy during his time in Australia. His story:

"Im not sure who designed that alum dinghy I had, could well have been built as a prototype for the Vagabond, and therefore designed by Alan Payne. They maybe figured that alum was not the best way to go and so built the 3 class boats in glass. The 16ft Corsair is still going strong all over Oz, but the 12ft Vagabond and 10ft Gipsy seem to have faded. When I worked at Miller and Whitworth (Bob Miller and Craig Whitworth, sailmakers, Flying Dutchmen champs, and of course the legendary Bob Miller (aka Ben Lexcen). They became the agents for the 3 classes, and we would place an advertisement in the local paper for Free Sailboat rides, and we would take out prospective customers and then try to sell them a boat....was a fun job, but didnt get to see my kids much....that was 1966. Check out De Havilland Marine. I also worked there - that was where this boat came from. I bought it for scrap value, one of the perks of the job, I guess. In those days I was an accountant - ha...!

In the U.S, Grumman remains the most famous firm for their line of aluminum small boats and canoes but their most enduring aluminum sailboat is their dink, much sought after by the cruising crowd.

Tom Price pointed out that Grumman, in the late 1960s, built a 15 racing dinghy, called the "Flyer." Tom came across it at a Baltimore Boat Show. It doesnt appear many were made as this is the only image I could dig up about this dinghy on the InterWebs.

And finally, the aluminum sailboat I came across at Bobby Mullers yard? After digging around it appears it was the Pelican class, a 12 footer design by Philip Rhodes, of which over a thousand were built by the Aluminum Company of Canada - Alcan. More info about the Pelican can be found at this blog post here.

A nice roomy 12 footer.

A video walk-around of a Pelican.

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January 16 to 18 Three More Lay Days in Coconut Grove Zero Miles

Yes we have been stuck in the Miami area for quite a while -- we got to Miami Beach on January 2 -- not that were complaining. It has been quite pleasant with many friends and family. The day we had to leave the Coral Reef YC because our dock space had been reserved by others, we were informed that we did not have to leave until 4:30. So we took public transport back into the city to visit the Miami History Museum. They had a special exhibit on the Beatles that Lene loved. They had a room showcasing the many cultures that have contributed to the city including this art piece representing the Haitian influence,

and an actual tiny triangular boat, more of a raft, on which seven souls escaped from Cuba. I learned that before Government Cut was cut, Biscanye Bay had no access to the sea except for small craft, and that Key West had been the seat of government of southern Florida, with a courthouse and customs and salvage operations. A delicious and quite fulfilling lunch at El Cacique, a store front looking Cuban place with a big coffee shop style restaurant behind. Clean, fast, tasty and I had yuca and plantanos as sides.  And $22.95 for both of us before the tip. They have been here for almost 30 years in the heart of downtown and now I know why. Our short haul from dock back to anchor was uneventful.
The next day, Lene and I separated. Lene took in American Sniper, which I would not enjoy -- the genre, and I took public transit to Miami Beach to attend part of its Art Deco Festival.

I took in  a youth bands concert of, good mostly Latin jazz




while I laid on my back on the grass under a big coconut palm.

Then I met up with Jerry and Louise, listened to Alina Celeste sing.  So sweet was her voice and the folk-like songs she sang for children with no sexuality, no high amplification and no hype. Ill take her over Lady Gaga, any day.

Lunch at Jerrys favorite Cuban beachfront restaurant and lots of people watching -- of people who had come to be watched. Ocean Drive, from 5th to 13th Streets, with lots of art deco architecture, was closed to vehicular traffic except for a huge antique car parade that passed us. The ocean side of the street was lined with vendors booths the whole way. It started to get more crowded as the day wore on and the festival was scheduled to run to 11p.m. We took the bus back to Jerry and Louises apartment and after resting had a big home made salad and I slept there, my first night ashore since October 7. Lene, on the other hand, the one who calls herself "not a sailor" less and less these days, took the dink back to our boat, fed herself and slept aboard without me. Her first time. And in the morning, when she had to take the dink the .9 miles back to the dinghy dock, the gas line sprung a leak which, with phone advice from me, she was able to fix. Did I mention how proud of her I am?
On our last day here I was picked up by Rhonda, the one who had dinner with us at Montys,

Lene, Janet and Rhonda

at Jerry and Louises apartment. We picked up Lene and went to the Beaux Arts Festival at the Coral Springs campus of University of Miami, where we met up with Janet and Ed, and Janets brother Neal and his wife Sandy, who spend their winters down here.
I saw a lot of nice art and I only had time to visit less than half of the booths.

This construction of two types of wood was my favorite, based on the artists pencil drawing of a lovers embrace, shown in the photo. Knees, arms and torsos are visible. I also talked with an artist from Blue Hill, Maine and one who had watercolored in Frenchboro Maine.

Tomorrow morning were off -- for Key West and beyond!

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December 16 18 Two More Lay Days in Titusville and Passage to Dragon Point Anchorage 30 9 Miles

Titusville is a good place to leave ones boat for the Christmas holidays as our friends on Autumn Borne and Seeker are doing. But it is also a sightseeing launch pad. Our first lay day was devoted to JFK Space center on Cape Canaveral, on Merritt Island, which forms the eastern shore of the Indian River (think of boxes of fruit from Florida) and was the subject of my prior post.
Our second lay day was mostly errands: Post office, bank, pet food store, laundry, and supermarket. But we also visited the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. It has a one lane unpaved loop road about three feet above sea level in a very circuitous path  about 7.5 miles long with about fifteen stops for viewing wildlife, mostly birds. But there are alligators there too and the book says there are small mammals as well and their droppings attest to it. It is a birders paradise and made me wish I was a birder, because there are so many species.

t flies but its not a bird.

Out in the middle of nowhere, there is an additional 5 mile hiking loop further than the road goes. I walked about half a mile and back while Lene waited. The wet lands and marshes have a few high spots, about three feet high, and the road simply connected them. The place is not completely natural but rather carefully managed to let seawater in,or out, to preserve ideal depths for different species. I took a lot of pictures but few came out well. Another paved road takes you to Playalinda (pretty beach in Spanish) Beach but we ran out of time.

And our last lay day was for the Universal theme parks in Orlando. Lene wanted this and I think she has gotten roller coasters out of her system. It was mostly monster rides but also a lot of inside rides that are intended to be scary.  For the giant ones a person must check all things that could fly away with the violent shaking of ones body: bags, hats, glasses, phones, cameras, wallets, change etc. They have rooms with walls of lockers that use your fingerprint to lock and unlock them. These areas need to be enlarged a bit. They have attendants to keep things moving when the system fails. The locker areas are the only thing in the park that needs to be expanded. I did not take pictures except these of Lene in chartreuse top with colossal structures.

We were lucky it was not Christmas week when the crowds would be three times as large. Several rides said that the line was 45 minutes, but in fact the times were shorter than that. And they keep you moving and entertained while waiting.  There are two separate parks with different rides in each, though both had Harry Potter rides and villages (One London and the other the suburban school). We were not close followers of the HP phenomenon but enjoyed it anyway. One mistake was drinking a "butter beer:" it looks like a beer with a head, but it is all cream and butterscotch and sweeter than is good for anyones health. All told, we went on about a dozen rides or shows during the 8.5 hours we were in the park. Most rides and shows are based on Universals action thriller or cartoon characters. They have done a very good job with some of the shows. The Eighth Voyage of Sinbad was in a huge amphitheater with acrobats, diving, and explosives. A Neptune show was all large excellent computer animation and pyrotechnics. These two had a watery theme as did two rides that we skipped because the fun is getting drenched. Both of the HP rides and several others put you in cars which move along a track, swivel on center and tilt and shake in myriad ways while 3D computer animations confront you. Very clever use of burning hot big flames -- you could feel the heat. Similarly, when an aquatic villain loomed out there was a spray of real water -- Aldous Huxleys "The Feelies" have arrived. An old fashioned looking railroad takes you from the HP area of one park to the other, with attendants in each area appropriately costumed. But the view out the window of the train would be of the back sides of  the various rides so instead of they put us, six in a small cabin, on one side of the train and amused us two ways during the short ride. For one thing, silhouettes of HP characters were made to appear in cloudy silhouette in the trains corridor, nattering about aspects of the plot. On the other side, a computer animated view of the English scene was shown moving past as if you were traveling by train in England. Clever. And the park is very expensive: $135 per person plus $17 to park the car. And merchandising everywhere. (for an additional $50 per person you can get an express pass which gives you the right to get on a separate shorter line to wait for the rides and shows. Not needed the day we visited.) We had dinner back in Titusville at Chops -- good food at a reasonable price.
On passage day, breakfasting out (third day in a row), returning the rental car, showering, raising the dink and fueling led to a 10:45 departure for Dragon Point (There was a big statue of a dragon here but it has disintegrated). It is the southern pointy tip of Merritt Island. No wind to speak of so; motoring all the way. At the Point we hooked a left into the Banana River, on the eastern side of that island, and dropped the hook a couple of hundred yards up that river in 17 feet of water at high tide with 100 feet of snubbed chain, for a quiet evening aboard. We had thought to stop and anchor half way in Cocoa FL,but skipped it this time. I have stopped reporting dolphins because they are with us every day.

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January 11 15 Five More Lay Days in Coconut Grove 1 5 Miles

We spent four nights at a dock of the Coral Reef YC, after one more rough night on anchor in the John Brennan Channel way off from the Dinner Key Marina. We did not even go ashore the day after the botanical garden trip, because it was so rough. This Google Earth picture shows both locations and the route between them, which is not charted, in the northern half of its brief 1.5 miles. (The dinghy dock is clearly visible in the extreme lower left and the well marked Dinner Key Channel -- through which we entered and will leave -- runs in from below the yellow humanoid figure in the upper right, slightly downward to the left, between two islands. The chart does not indicate and I am not sure which of the islands shown is actually Dinner Key.)

 The white dots, right side lower central are moored boats. They are rather orderly, like grave stones, because mooring fields are generally laid out in an orderly manner. We were anchored to the right of them, off the picture, in the anchorage area, where such orderliness does not exist. Our first anchoring attempt (not enough water) was among the white dots at the extreme lower right corner. The dark blue between these two fields of dots is the John Brennan Channel. To got to the Coral Reef YC we motored (1) to the  left through that well marked channel, (2) south of the lower end of the berm that runs sort of vertically past the end of the seven docks of the Dinner Key YC, (3) turned left to pass between the ends of those docks and the island running to the upper right, and (4) hugging the ends of the smaller docks, toward the upper left where we (5)entered and tied on, facing the shore, between the two shoreward docks extending downward from the "E" shaped dock in the extreme upper left.
 After bringing ILENE to the dock we went to the movies seeing Big Eyes (about an female artist who painted children with emotive big eyes and her emotionally abusive husband) and Inherent Vice (which provided a vehicle for actors to act as trashy people doing trashy things which signified nothing and was a waste of time). And we stopped at Fresh Market for take out food to eat at home, i.e., aboard.
We learned the local mass transit system and used it to visit local cultural attractions. This included the rather new, large and very elegant Perez Art Museum of Miami (PAMM).
The 249 bus took us from two blocks from the YC, about a mile, to the Coconut Grove light rail elevated system station which in turn took us to the People Mover, a free elevated loop in the central downtown area, which left us a block from the museum, of which the Miamians are quite proud, having spent $200 million on its construction in prime real estate next to the new concert hall and the new science museum under construction.

Lene hooked up with the same Rhonda who we had dined with on our first night in Miami Beach and three other women. She viewed the art and had lunch with them. I explored the art myself. It rained a lot early in the day but we had our foulies and did not get very wet. Most of the artists were not known to me and most had some Miami or south Florida connection by birth, education, work, residence or death.They had a large collection of pop art, by name brand artists: Warhol, Lichtenstein, etc. which Lene liked. This seemed old to me. These two works, one inside and one out, are based on geodesic domes.

My favorite was this painting, approximately 5 by 8 feet by my guess, by an African artist. Three zig zag lines, two starting in the upper right and one from the top toward the left define the spaces that are painted in. And the bottom represents more, little triangles that I saw as water in this landscape, though the plackard said it could be a TV static pattern. I spent quite a few minutes intrigued by this one.

Another day we visited Viscaya, the seaside mansion of John Deering of John Deere fame, another Breakers-like home of the rich. This one was built during the portion of WWI before the US went "over there" to end it. Deering was a bachelor and imported fountains and whole rooms of walls and furniture from Europe. Quite lovely actually. The big change here in the last century was the erection of a glass roof to cover and hence seal off the central courtyard onto which all rooms of all three floors open -- to keep out the salt air and rain. This, of course, also necessitated air conditioning. And the gardens are not what they once were. I love these marble floors of theseaside and land entryways:

The gardens are nothing to sneeze at either, and here is one of the fountains with "merboys"  --mermaids with boys instead of girls.

A large stone Venetian barge (a place for guests to recline at ease) was built on a sandbank to protect Vizcayas sea entrance, with me at the extreme left and the towers over Government Cut barely visible on the horizon in the between. A bird walked by unconcerned with his proximity to humans.

One evening some young men strolled past our boat and started up a conversation because they recognized ILENE. Russ and Tom had sailed with my late son-in-law, Julien, and sung his praises and those of my daughter who they asked me to convey their good wishes. Small world.
We spent a pleasant afternoon lounging at the YCs underutilized swimming pool and, after some wine aboard, had a nice dinner at the Yacht Club with Jerry and Louise, who came over from Miami Beach and took us to Publix afterwards so Lene could get some products that the very nearby Fresh Foods does not stock, e.g. frozen blueberries and sugarless peanut butter. We lucked out that this was an all you can eat pasta plus night for only $17.00.  I have yet to learn how to avoid over stuffing myself at such affairs, though. The eighteen percent service charge is added to the bill automatically. This club has lots of helpful friendly staff to serve its 800 members, most of who do not keep boats here. It has fixed concrete piers against which we put up the fender board. The docks are busy by day with contractors and many people in suits apparently use the club day and night as a venue to do business. The only drawback is that on sunny days numerous black birds sit in the rigging and emit the remains of their fruit based diet, staining the deck. I washed it off over and over and will use bleach on the remaining stubborn though by now faint stains.
Another evening we were visited by Janet (who had taken us to the Chihuly exhibit) and another member of Lenes grade school posse, also named Rhonda. Rhonda was in town from New York to visit her Mom. After wine and cheese and a tour of the boat, I had, among other things, a single stone crab leg, my first, a delicacy here, and not as good as other seafood to my taste. This was at the well known but not excessively expensive (except for stone crab legs) Montes, on the water, less than a quarter mile away. Photo to be added. Janet and ?Ed may drive down to Marathon to visit us there, and perhaps to fish, though access to the boat on anchor or mooring will be more difficult for Janet than dockside. Also, yesterdays news about Cuba has started us thinking about getting the charts and cruising guides we will need for such a visit, though our insurer, Pantaenius, has not yet come around on this issue. They have several weeks to do so. Life is very very good.

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December 22 24 Three More Lay Days in Velcro Beach Zero Miles

The Vero Beach Art Museum is quite good for a town this size. The highpoint for me was an exhibit of the history of Haitian art, led by docent Phoebe.

She told us how the native artists were given materials and opportunities -- but without any training, classical or otherwise -- to develop their own natural, primitive art forms. This was done by a conscientious objector to WWI who fled there. We were told the history of that blighted nation from its colonial days under the French, its slave revolt, and a series of despotic rulers with occasional harmful US interventions, plus more than its share of natural disasters. All of this history plus the voodoo tinged Catholicism is captured in the art.

And having purchased a steel barrel-head based wall sculpture of gekkos by a Haitian artist in Swansboro, NC, we were pleased to note several works of this genre in the show.

The Mckee Botanical Gardens was less thrilling. The place had its heydays in the 30s when it also featured a zoo and was quite popular. Having been closed for decades, it was reopened in the 90s and provides a very pleasant oasis of quiet solitude with not very much labeling of the trees. McKee specializes in water lilies.

These pads, with raised rims, are 18 inches across.

Two beauties: Lene with orchids

"The Old Man" having fallen, is a life source to other plants

Pink powder puffs is what I call these

I got ten times more questions about this Maine tee shirt than about any of my other shirts. Seems everyone who has ever been anywhere in New England wants to strike up a conversation. Maybe its the large font size.
We had lunch at McKees Cafe and used two buses to get back to ILENE where I polished more stainless,
Our last day here involved a bus ride and .8 mile walk to a movie theater to see Birdman and Wild. Admission for seniors $5, refillable popcorn $2. Our first movie since NY. I liked Wild better; it involves one persons trek of the Pacific Rim Trail, and i somehow identified our boat camping with that long-distance camping experience; no I have not given the plot away.
And we had to buy a new boat hook because the old one now lies on the bottom, after the metal pole slipped out of its rubber handle under strain. Dinner was at Riverside Cafe, about 3/4 of a mile by dink. I love commuting by dink and the live music was nice but the food, unremarkable.
Oh, and you havent heard me whining about how cold it is. Thats because we have have gone from three quilts over the top sheet to zero and opening hatches to let in cooler air.
And ever since St. Marys GA, freight train whistles have been our companion most every night. South Florida was developed as a result of the railroad built by Flagler and freight trains still run along the coast.
Six nights in one place is a long time for us.

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Four More Great Sails Round Out July And A Serious Health Issue Changes Plans for August

Four more day sails and one work day closed out July. Regrettably, Lene was not aboard. Average of 4.55 hours per sail.
First was Greg and Kathy. Greg is a member of my Mens Book Group. We men get to meet each others wives when we have dinners at each others homes and at our annual Spring social. Kathy and Greg have also visited the Barnes Collection in Philly with us a couple of years ago. Greg, a terrific artist and retired professor of drawing has sailed with me several times and Kathy, a retired teacher,

Gregs drawing, sorry about side view.

overcame her fears on this rookie voyage. The wind started at less than ten and grew to more than 15 as the day wore on. We used the small jib and main, getting to Sea Cliff YC and then dipping into Manhassett Bay far enough to see Port Washington, on the way home. Pinot Grigio on the mooring at the end. We have been enjoying stronger than normal winds this July.
Next up was Cynthia, a past guest, in a lot of wind for 2.25 hours underway. We used reefed main and no head sail and made speeds of five to seven knots on beamy reaches back and forth into Little Neck Bay.
The excitement came at the end, when it was time to fetch the mooring. This is no task for a sweet petite lady who is a bit older than I. So I had to try to get close to the pickup stick and slow ILENE before running forward to the bow to grab the bobbing pickup stick and then pull up and grab and attach the bridle before the wind blew us away. I made six tries. The problem is that when you slow down enough to not race past the mark, even though you aim as close to the wind as possible, the wind will come a few degrees on one side or the other and blow the boats bow away. I gained a new appreciation for the accomplishments of my friend Jim, who sailed "Aria" solo for many years, though his run from tiller to bow, on a 26 foot boat, was shorter than mine. Twice I grabbed the pickup stick in these six tries. The first time the boat turned and the wind pushing on its side made the boat too heavy for me to hold; I had to let go. Frustration!!!! The second time the cheap flimsy line with which the mooring servicer had tied the pickup stick to the bridle -- parted! I had the stick but it was no longer attached to a bridle. FRUSTRATION! And in all this I had a few close encounters with friends moored boats -- but no touches. Strong reverse gear pulled ILENEs bow back past the bow of the neighboring boat. So what to do? Call the Harlem launch and ask for help! The operator wisely let me wait, circling, for a few minutes while he got reinforcements. Two strong men Dave and Jeep, jumped from the slow moving launch to the slow moving ILENE. Then, when I got ILENEs bow to the mooring ball, and held her there, they used a boat hook to grab the bridle and the problem was solved. The alternative plan B I had contemplated would have been to go a bit outside of the mooring field and drop anchor. Cynthia professed that she was never worried. This was because I never showed my fear. Lene joined Cynthia and me for dinner at Neptune Restaurant, a favorite, on First avenue near 12th Street.

Next I enjoyed a very productive work day with Lenes cousins sons, Jake and Jared. They were transformed from guests the weekend before, to worker bees, for five hours. The economy is so weak that they dont have summer jobs. So they liked the money and I liked the quality and quantity of the work they accomplished, largely helping me bring the RIB dink from the upstairs locker to the dock and compounding and waxing the topsides and cockpit. While they worked I varnished the other side of  the cafe doors, replaced the mooring bridle to pickup stick line with a stouter one, whipped a few ends and cleaned up the galley stove top. I also picked up the outboard from Tony, proprietor of Island Outboard, two blocks from the Club, on City Island Avenue (718) 885-2012. Tony has done a lot of good work on my outboard over the years and we use it many times more than most people.
Next day being a Wednesday, I tried to revive the Club within a Club (See Blog, July 2012.) This is the informal group of people who have Wednesday afternoons available. With the loss last year of four of our larger boats (ILENE was in Maine), the group had sort of fizzled out. But on only 15 hours notice only three other folks showed up. The very light winds may have held down attendance as well and I have been encouraged to try artificial respiration again later, with more notice. Morty asked that we sail with him and his wife Clara on their 30 foot Catalina, "Easy Living." Completing our quartet was a new member, Mary, an Oncological Nurse Practitioner, who does not have a boat yet but has been found qualified to use the Clubs J-24s and is enthusiastic.  The sailing was rather listless with very light wind but we did get up to 4.5 knots on two occasions when puffs lifted us. And the lunch before hand, the conversation during and the G&T (vodka actually) after were all quite good.
Finally, on the last day of the month, I helped set up a sail with our former member, Nick, whose boat we helped sell last year after he became a resident of the Hebrew Home for the Aged due to memory issues.

Master carpenter and dance instructor, Nick, at dinner after.

I signed him out and was met at the Club by three other old friends of his, one of whom, John, had driven up from Marylands Eastern Shore.

Don and John

We were off the mooring for five hours: close hauled out of Eastchester Bay, then broad reaching with a couple of jibes to about six miles east of Matinecock Point before tacking for one long  close reach back past Execution Rocks. Then to give them some excitement, after changing back from the genoa to the small jib, we tacked back up through Hart Island Sound, over to near L.I. and then to the mooring. After dousing sails we passed through the channel behind Big Tom under motor and went through the City Island YC fleet looking for Nicks old boat but we did not spot her. All of these men are good sailors. Like Nick, Don and John are past members of the Harlem. Nick taught John how to sail. Don preferred to trim sails and the other three men shared the helm. Nicks memory problems definitely did not involve any impairment of his ability of to handle the helm.  Pat, rounded out our group.

Co-organizer of the event, a nurse, and one of the most knowledgeable and helpful men in the Club.

He spotted a damaged ring clip at the tack of the jib,which we replaced and taped. It was catching the Genoa jib sheets, causing damage to them and itself. I usually try to "improve" my friends boat when I sail with them. This time Pat did this for me. He had also brought the Chardonnay that we shared in the cockpit, apres sail. Then the guys helped my try to inflate the dink on the dock noting that the washer at the end of the pump hose was missing, which was the problem. (A new one is on order.) The day ended with dinner together before the three others drove Nick home.
And proving that our rosy life does not exist without a few thorns, I got a call from Lene during our dinner. The needle biopsy of her left lung came back as malignant, but stage one, slow growing and small. It gives one cause to pause. It will be removed by laperoscopic surgery on August 12, with preparatory tests between now and then. If one has to catch cancer, this is the type to get and the early dtection was quite lucky.
But, of course,  this means that our plans to cruise up to Nantucket during the entire month of August will not come off. We are now planning a short five day cruise in the Sound before the surgery, during which we hope to catch up with the HYC Club Cruise, at Matinecock, in the Sound. Lenes attitude is really great. She is cheerful, positive, determined and optimistic. She knows that worry does one no good. NYUs Langone Medical Center is a world class hospital and she has excellent doctors. Stay tuned!

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March 11 16 Six More Lay Days in Fort Laud Zero Miles

Well, we got the 9 dinghy changed to the 9 6" model and Lene is much happier. An amazing number of small tasks were required for this but it is all done, except paying the taxes, getting a registration number and putting it on the boat.

The Doel-fin stabilizer fins are screwed onto the small horizontal fins of the outboard, under the water, extending their area several times. Without them, when we try to go fast, the stern of the dinghy just digs in lower and the bow higher, which uses a lot of fuel, inefficiently, for a slow ride. But the ones that we got first were a bit too big and would not safely fit onto the outboard. So when we had a rented car for a day we got the right ones and during Lenes HS reunion, Janets husband, Ed, helped me install them. And I needed his help because my initial plan to stand the outboard up against a square garbage bin, with the engines vertical downward fin between the boards of the boardwalk and a line holding the outboard to the receptacle failed. The holes that needed to be drilled through the aluminum fins could not be drilled from the top down because the other parts of the outboard interfered with a vertical hole from the drill and the "vise" I had created was too low to the ground to drill the holes from the bottom up. So plan B was to find a taller receptacle to hang the outboard from -- and it worked. They said it was a fifteen minute job; more like 75. And this was definitely a two man job, if only to lift the engine from the dink to the land. Thanks Ed, for your help and for lunch at the Riverside Market Cafe, after. What a jumping place that is! I was not only the oldest person in the joint, but probably at least twice the age of every other person except Ed. They have an interesting way of selling beer: huge cooler cases line a wall with racks of bottles of beer of very many brands. Take what you want, open your bottle with an opener that hangs from the ceiling on a string nearby, and bring your empties to the cash register with your food check to be charged for both.

I treated the dinks hypalon exterior surface with a rubbing with Aerospace Protectant 303, to keep it clean and supple. And we had a spare tiller extender (so one can control the throttle and steering from a position more forward in the dink) which only needed  me to remove the rubber liner so it was large enough to fit properly over the end of the tiller and hack off about a foot to shorten the extender.
I also rebedded the side opening port above my head in the Pullman berth. When it rained I was rewarded by a slow drip on my head (or pillow) of fresh rainwater that seeped in (until I put a pot under the drip to catch it; but living with pots in ones bed is no way to live). All I had to do was remove the six screws that fastened the stainless collar around the outside of the exterior of the port, scrape away all of the old bedding material (rubbery stuff) from the back of the collar and from the surface to which it attaches, squeeze out a bead of new caulking all the way around, place the collar back on, screw the six screws in tight, and then wipe away all the excess I could and, after waiting for it to set, scrape away the remainder of the excess.

We enjoyed a visit to the Art Museum with Lenes HS classmate, Elissa, who is a member. It featured a lecture by a PhD art historian on photography followed by a viewing of the Museums three exhibits: photography, Frieda Kahlo + Diego Rivera, and William Glackens, who was a painter in his own right but is more famous for buying most of the art that is now in The Barnes Collection in Philadelphia for Mr. Barnes. Then Lene and Elissa had dinner with some Lincoln HS grads and I spent a quiet night at home.

Interesting things have been happening at our Marina. 1). A week before we got here an auto was pulled from the bottom of the river, having rolled down the boat ramp next to us. The person whose body was found inside was a crime victim, an accident victim or a suicide. 2) A burglar, running from the police, jumped aboard a sailboat two boats away from ours, and when the husband was awakened by his heavy breathing, jumped into the river and was arrested by the police, waiting on the other shore. Glad it was not our boat. And this is a very cute little strange watercraft, taken out at the boat ramp near us.

Wildlife too: 1). I was afraid, returning to ILENE one night, that one of the kitties was thrashing in the water with one of the big black Moscovy ducks that live in the marina and fear no man -- or cat.

But it was two ducks mating, a very violent squawking while thrashing, it seemed to me. 2). Lene screamed! She does this when insects appear. It is very unsettling. This time it was a gecko crawling on our galley stove. It took a few attempts before I grabbed him and he was happy to be placed back on the dock. The next one was brought to the boat by one of the cats and I put him back ashore but without a good part of his tail. I dont know if he can live without it.  

We were taken to the Wakodahatchee wetlands preserve by our friends, Dick and Elle where we saw a turtle,

lots of birds

and this somewhat larger waterborne gecko, tail first and then head.

 It is part of a water treatment plant and a two mile boardwalk has been erected above the water to give visitors access to the animals. Im thinking it is misnamed because it is not part of a river and "hatchee" is the Native American word for River, as in Caloosahatchee. Dick and Elle showed us their lovely home in the gated 800 single family home community of Valencia Isles. A beautiful home with room for Dicks woodworking tools. They were in the community production of Fiddler On The Roof, Elle operating a camera to project the play onto large screens at each side of the stage in the auditorium or ballroom of the clubhouse and Dick was a stage hand and had used his woodworking skills to fashion a very realistic looking fiddle out of a block of wood. They had invited us for the performance.We had pizza with them before the show and played in the billiard room of their clubhouse while they got ready for the play. It was very well done with retirees playing all the roles including Tevyas five young daughters. An amateur production but not at all amateurish, with professional equipment and a director.

We had a good dinner with Cousin Naomi

and her sons, Alan and Jeff, at Foxy Browns restaurant. It was within walking distance but had a free parking lot so we drove. Naomi still uses a walker after recovery from her broken bone. Rather interesting food and not too expensive.

Lene had a rather full scale course of beauty treatments in anticipation of the full reunion with her class of 67 schoolmates. Not since October, so she deserved it.

We rented a car for a day from Gold Coast Autos, a very efficient operation which picked us up and dropped us of in a timely fashion. Family run for several decades, exclusively from one Fort Lauderdale office. The only bad part relates to the easy pass system they have installed in the cars. If you take a toll road (and who knew it was a toll road) the device automatically pays your toll and you are billed $6.75 if you tell them, or $20 when they find out if you dont tell them.

While we had the car, on a Saturday, I tried to visit my fathers grave. Many Jewish cemeteries are closed on Saturdays so I called the day before and was told that while the office was closed, visitors were allowed until 3 pm. But when we arrived, the gates were locked so all I could do was say my prayers and think my thoughts from inside the car outside the gates. A disappointment.

Having not filled the propane tank since the day of our first arrival in Marathon, we took it for refill at UHaul the day we had the car. The can was almost bone dry. The valve at the top would not open so UHaul could not put in propane. At Westmarine the salesman told us that they do not sell nor install such valves but Boyes Propane does, and they did, and refilled the tank. They also inspected the tank (looked for pitted surfaces indicating corrosion of the exterior surface) and certified the can for another five years. Luckily this happened when we had the car, though our boat, UHaul, Westmarine and Boyes were all within a couple of miles of each other.

Elissa and Len introduced us to their sailing friends, Ned and Carolyn,

who have a 42 foot Jeanneau in Maine and a 36 foot sailboat at Dinner Key down here. Ned is the brother of Gene, who is a member of the Harlem! It is a small world indeed. After some wine aboard the six of us went to dinner at Nicos where I had the largest stuffed artichoke I have ever seen. It may have been partly because of all the sea stories but I blame the fact that I was still eating artichoke after all the others had finished on the size of that choke.  A fun evening and we thank Elissa and Len, who are not sailors,  for enduring all of our sea stories. And we are invited to Ned and Carolyns house in Rockport, Maine on our next trip up there in 2016.

My final afternoon in Fort Lauderdale was a visit to the Science Museum here on Riverwalk. Lenes business has picked up a bit so she was working. I regret to say that the place was somewhat lackluster.

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