Category: America’s Great Loop
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Bottom Paint Prep: Part I
The number one reason we had our boat hauled out was to apply a fresh coat of bottom paint. Boats that are stored in the water typically have a special bottom paint, also referred to as antifouling paint or ablative paint. The bottom paint is applied to the part of the boat’s hull that sits…
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Water Damage on our Yacht
After our longer-than-anticipated maiden voyage, we returned to Tom’s family farm and rested for a few days. We hope to complete all major boat projects in two months, but we have to split our week between the boat yard and our shop in central Florida, two hours away. Luckily we have Ogre to travel, live…
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Zinful’s Final Haul Out
Arriving at the DIY Boat Yard After our ~200 nm journey, followed by 12 days of anchoring and waiting nearby, we finally got the call to come to the boat yard. Just as we arrived to the boat yard and marina entrance and were about to turn in, we got another call – the boat…
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Days 5-16 | Final Voyage of M/Y Zinful
What we thought would be our last night on Zinful, turned out to be only night 7 out of 18!!! Wow, we had not seen that coming and we were unprepared for such a long stay. We had made arrangements with a DIY boat yard in Fort Pierce to be hauled out of the water…
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Day 4 | Final Voyage of M/Y Zinful
Our fourth (and final day!) moving Zinful was our longest day at 50.7 nm, but also our shortest day at 6.5 hours of travel time. Today was wonderful cruising, and without the bridges and hustle of large cities. Almost at the very end of this ~200 nm journey, Tom lost power to the starboard (right…
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Day 3 | Final Voyage of M/Y Zinful
Our third day moving Zinful was a long, slow day. We cruised under bridge after bridge, only some of which we could fit under while the bridges were closed. For the closed bridges that we couldn’t fit under, we had to time our arrival with the scheduled bridge opening times. The times were usually every…
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Day 2 | Final Voyage of M/Y Zinful
Our second day moving Zinful was spent on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW). The AIWW is a network of waterways, some natural and some man-made, that stretches over 1,100 miles from Key West, FL to Norfolk, VA. We’ll get to travel every mile during our Loop! We left Key Largo and continued our journey north,…
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Day 1 | Final Voyage of M/Y Zinful
Zinful was located in Key Largo, FL and we needed to move her to a DIY boat yard in Fort Pierce, FL to spend a little time getting her Loop-ready. That’s about 200 miles for our first journey on the boat! After spending a few nights aboard at a marina waiting for good weather conditions,…
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We Traveled 2,310 Miles for Our Perfect Loop Boat
Neither Tom nor I have ever owned a liveaboard boat, so we were excited to get on some boats and see what we liked and disliked. In total we viewed 9 boats, before finding one that we felt would be the best fit for us on our journey on America’s Great Loop. Initial Desired Specs…