Great Loop "Just Do It"

July 31 South Haven to St. Joseph 25 mile 5.8 Mile per Gallon As the numbers show the runs was fast and good.   The weather conditions were as close to perfect as it gets, There were only light winds, easy swells and therefore no ramp up and downs of the engine and Just Do It just did it easy peasy.   Funny thing happed while leaving the Black River I was running less than 5 KTs and someone yelled at me to slow down. I checked my wake it really was small if any at all.   I was only above idle speed by 200 RPM.   But I slowed down anyways.   I guess no wakes means different things in different places the river had more lake effect wave than my wake but it is what it is.   (this was a boat name in harbor last night “It is what it is”) Once in the harbor (West Basin Marina) we stopped filled up and went to the slip I did more work rigging the fenders, I need them fictional and I do not want to lose another.   I guess I will buy on at West Marine when I ge...

July 30   Saugatuck to South Haven 25 miles Last night was fun.   We did go to the concert and there tons of people our age all dressed up in weird clothes with lights everywhere.   I mean in place I would never have expected to see lite up on both males and females.   Had a couple of beers and then at intermission we had ice cream so it was two hit day for Dianne.   Currently the “cute boat” count is at 95.   Plus one comment that was, “North Carolina to here, on the loop.   That a long ways for a little boat.” Todays ride was short.   The weather finally gave us a break and winds were light and not into our face.   Waves were less than 2 feet so milage was good at 5.5 per gallon speed average was 7+ per hour.   Currently we have doubled the hours on the boat from the time we bought it so it doing great.   The oll leak has slowed down a lot. Once in Woodland harbor we have not seen a harbor master so I assume we are paid up.  ...

July 29 Makegone to Saugatuck 44.5 miles Summary (because we have a live music show to go see in the park) Kicked out of bed early as we knew we had a long trip in front of us Made good time with the wind on the port quarter behind us. (Also good fuel milage) A boat festival here and that means it is busy. Lots and lots of people in town. When docking the hands dragged the boat along the dock and again knocked the water outlet off.   This time I think it is done.   I try to find a replacement when internet is better. Lots of people walking past boat so it has to completely covered tonight Lots of people walking by means lots of Cute little boat comments. Met another couple on 26 ft Nodic tug doing the loop.   Visited with them they were really cool.   Spend time in Africa doing out camping in “rest Areas” so it sounds like a good idea for another adventure. Give tours of the boat to two different couples that said they are thinking about the loop. Shorter day tomorro...

July 28 Muskegon to Muskegon 0 Miles Summary of Today: Rain last night and I left my windows open only damage appears to be a wet note pad and it dried out. Made breakfast of egg omelet and 2 cups of extra strong coffee Did Laundry a lot of work but all the clothes and bedding are now clean Did boat chores: Cleaned some space in the cupboards Check the raw water strainer and cleaned it Checked oil leak Fixed rear screen moved some supplies arounds Filled water tank Did a bike ride to Submarine Museum. A very worth while trip saw the Silverfish the third highest of all subs and the most successful sub to survive the WW II.   The history in museum was very clear and better laid out than other ones were.   I left with a better idea of how the whole story unfolded and interlocked parts tied together. Also toured a 1927 coast guard boat   built to stop rum runners.   It also sank one Japanese submarine during the WWII Going out to dinner Meet some guys working on a sailbo...

July 27 Pentwater to Muskegon 44 miles Did get a fair start and the weather in the harbor was great. Out side of the harbor on the first leg it was only fair.   On our scale of “sporty” it was a 5.   It was only a one turn run to the next harbor, and at the start of that run it was a 5.5 and rapidly rose to 7 which was barely tolerated by me. So I guess that means I complained more than Dianne.   Not a surprise. I had a hard time drinking coffee, and going to the restroom to eliminate the coffee I did was next to impossible. The weather has continued to get worse and they added a “small craft advisory”. Starting at 5pm today and ending Thursday midnight.   We therefore had to cancel a short day for tomorrow and added onto the travel day on Friday.   I really need that plan to work as finding a place to park the boat on Friday is almost impossible and I benefited from a last minute cancellation today, During our after dinner (Curry shrimp on fried rice) walk we f...

July 26 Manistee to Pentwater distance 38 miles Not a bad run today as far as speed went.   In the morning we were directly into the wind and ride was bumpy.   Lots of bouncing and banging into wave.   About 11:00 we turned a little more into the south east and ride became rock and Roll.   This resulted in higher speeds which drove our gas milage from a very poor 4.3 Mile/gal to a not bad 5.3 miles/ gal.   However the bad new was the rolls were timed in such a way that once every 5 minutes or so the bow would push down and stern would rise up.   When this happened the prop would break the water and engine would race for a couple of second clear the air and then run way down on RPM and catch in a few seconds.   I did not enjoy this cycle and I tried to trim out and nothing worked.   Also discovered that drinking coffee on Lake Michigan is a skill.   The routine is as follows. Check cup with lid and sipping hole is held correctly Watch the temp...

July 25 Manistee to Manistee 0 miles You read it correct this morning the Small Craft advisory was extended to 5 pm today.   The waves were 5 feet and wind gusts to 20 Knots/hour.   We had been out in 15 gust and just did not want to how much this “cute Little boat” could take, we rested in place. What did we do: Spent 2 hours changing existing reservations Spent 3 hours making new one though Aug. 1. The problem appears to Grand Haven festival which packed the marinas full for the weekend. Cooked Ribs using the Air Frier as slow cooker Rode bicycles to the state park and the next beach up Ordered new deck lights because the existing ones are beat to death. Walked the whole length of the towns riverwalk   Had IceCream as we burnt so many calories walking.   However it was nice cool day a high of 67F which in my opinion perfect.   No rains and sunshine, so the only problem was big waves and wind.   I guess I am a little grumpy about things.   My compress...

July 23 and July 24 July 23   NorthPort Frankfort MI 66 miles July 24 Franfort to Manistee MI 28.9 mile Summary of July 23 Knowing it was going to be long day we woke up at 5:30 and out 7:00 There was no space available at any Marina’s till Frankfort and with the wind anchoring was not an option Ride took over 10 hours so we arrived at 5 Most of the trip was rough averaging between 5-6 on the “Sporty” scale Filled boat with diesel Cleaned Bilge   Meant Dinner would not be started before 6:30 Dianne was hungry so we went out to Restaurant called Dingy’s best yet I had a BBQ Chicken and Dianne had fish and chips On walk after dinner found old Movie theater from 1920s that was restored and showing the latest Top Gun at 7:30 so we went in and watched the movie it was great. After Movie thunderstorms and lots of rain.   As the windows were left open we had to dry several articles.   Off to bed at 10;30 really late for us. July 24 Slept late as we were up late. The forecas...

June 22 Petoskey to Northport Harbor 36.5 miles At last once again making forward progress. It was a tough hard slug to make it though all the junk Lake Michigan is throwing at us.   So my engineering mind wants to lay out as it happened: Up at 6AM because we knew it would become rough this afternoon At 6:30 asked charter boat captain what he thought weather would be, his response was, “start early, finish early because waves will build all day” Out at 7 strong wind in protected bay 15 miles per hour no problem In lake wind gusts starts to build waves and it becomes a 6.5 on “sporty” Scale. Enter big bay and it falls to 4 Rain showers hit us with strong winds and rises rating to a 7.2 have to trim boat to try and keep it level. Deep in bay shelter becomes a 2 have to undo trim and rebalance boat. Arrive in Northport marina Habor and fill with fuel and register boat for overnight stay.   A guy by the name of Mike approaches us.   He tells he has wanted to meet a “Looper” a...

July 21 Reverse of Yesterday   Got out of bed this morning and had breakfast on the boat.   Then at 8 sharp the phone rang and the dreaded message came that they did not have the oil we needed for the change.   Kind or aggravating.   Best he could would be noon start but after a quick review we figured it out and the did have the oil required.   So at 8:30 they started.   I removed the front panel was ready for the work.   First thing the guy noticed was the oil hose end clamp was broken.   I did not need that cap to fall off and loss all the engine oil so we put new hose clamp on.   The next problem was a water in the first stage filter.   The mechanic drained that out so another slow accusation problem was solved.   The oil change then proceeded without problems.   So I rate the job as 2 cuss word job out of 10.   Buttoned up the hatches and closed the doors.   Found out that oil changes can be as much as 500 hours ...

July 20 Petoskey MI to Harbor Springs (Irish Boat Works) OK I expect everyone is curious about what the Heck we have been doing.   July 10 drove home   July 11-19 Attended Happy hour 3 times and good times they were Had Lunch with Andy Fry Had lunch with Buddies at Kingmaker and caught up on the news Did two conference calls with Russia One call on Nut butters A little research Work on how to Air Condition the Boat Fixed the back yard Ordered junk for the boat Organized an oil change for the boat Dianne had a Doctor’s appointment Replaced all the screens in the frames for the boat Visited Angel and her kids Visited Jenny and her kids on July 19 drove back to the boat with more stuff than we left with. The boat is still floating and started right up.   There was no oil around the boat so transmission leak is really reduced a good thing.   The installation for the Air Conditioner did not go well.   The box was the right size but the Window is too small.   So ...