Category: Uncategorized

I just returned from Florida teaching sheriff’s department’s de-escalation skills. On the way home I stopped in Denver, Colorado to spend a little time with my 95 year old mom. I contacted Harbor Marine and FOOTE LOOSE is ready to pick up. I arranged to go pick FOOTE LOOSE up on Thursday. After I pick FOOTE LOOSE up, I’ll take him over to Boat Country so we could get the oil, air filters, fuel filters and lower gear oil changed getting ready to start heading East. Once that’s done, then we’ll go out into Puget Sound and start learning the auto pilot.

I put my dirt house up for sale on February 24, had mutual acceptance on February 25th. I need to be out of the house by March 28th. There is an old saying “The job fits the time”. Part of the challenge is to be out of the house by March 28th. I was scheduled to conduct de-escalation training In Defuniak Florida 26th through March 3rd. I had also promised my 95 year old mother I would visit her in Fort Collins Colorado on the way home. Staying there until March 7th. I’m selling just about everything. If it doesn’t fit in a U-Haul pod, it ain’t going! So I have 20 days to get everything taken care of in the house. I need to hit it in high gear on March 8th when I get back.

Foote Loose is still in at Harbor Marine getting the compass, for the auto pilot, moved while I’m away. With luck that will be done by March 8th so I can move it to Boat Country so the engines can be serviced. Changing the oil, spark plugs, air filters, fuel filters, and lower gear box fluid changed.

#great loop #cdory #c-dory #greatloop #cbrats #c-brats #boating #cruising

Took foot loose out For a training session to begin using the auto pilot.

I cruised out on Possession sound and position myself between Hat Island-Comano Island and Whitby Island. Well away from electronic interference. The 1st task was to calibrate the compass. That was accomplished. When it came the auto pilot to set a course, I set a way point in the Garmin and attempted to navigate to it using auto pilot. Foote Loose did not follow the track. I explored several different settings, attempted different processes and none worked . After 2 hours of attempting to get it to work with no success I decided to bag it, get lunch and study the manuals some more.

Tomorrow, I’m heading back down to the boat show and talk to the Garmin folks in regards to how to set up for auto pilot. To see if there’s something I’m missing. I’m also bringing my information for the auto pilot to explore that as well.

My current plan is to go out again on Sunday.

Today I received a phone call that it was good to come get Foote Loose that all the work was done. Turned out installation was a hefty price to upgrade. I figured the investment is well worth it. When I went to pick up Foote Loose we discovered the electrical cord connecting the boat to the truck had been cut by mistake when moving Foote Loose around the work area at Harbor Marine. Of course they’re fixing it at their expense. So, Foote Loose. Is still at Harbor Marine, I hope to be picking it up the next day or so. I’ve been studying up how to run the auto pilot and all I need to do now is get out on the water and play with it.

Other things I accomplished today were; Prepping my generator to sell and list on Facebook’s marketplace. Straightened up the garage allowing me to store all my empty boxes in the garage in a nice neat matter. Straightened up the dining room area making it look nice. My target date to list a house is February 19th and here it is February 6th. I’ve only got 12 more days to get the house ready to list.

#great loop, #cdory, #c-dory, #greatloop, #cbrats, #c-brats, #boating, #cruising, #national Park, #national Parks, #Foote Loose, #Foot loose, # boatupdiningguy, #boat up dining guy

Foote Loose is still in the shop. I’m pleased to announce though that headway is being made. I got to visit her last week and quite a bit of work has been done.

This week in prepping for the great loop I’ve gone to the Seattle boat show, one of the biggest boat shows on the Western side of the states. I’ve been focusing on seminars. Don’t need another boat I’m happy with the one I have. Courses I’ve been taking include how to use tablets and smartphones, essential gear you need, advanced anchoring, mastering Navionics, analyzing weather patterns and staying connected to the Internet while cruising.

#great loop, #cdory, #c-dory, #greatloop, #cbrats, #c-brats, #boating, #cruising, #national Park, #national Parks, #Foote Loose, #Foot loose, # boatupdiningguy, #boat up dining guy, #Seattle, #Seattle Boat Show, #Boat show

I’ve been pretty quiet the last couple months. December I was out of town the whole month visiting my son in Massachusetts. Also foote Loose has been in the shop getting upgrades. Two of the gauges we’re not working properly; the tilt gauge and the tech needed repair which was done at Boat Country. Once I got home and was able to get to Boat Country I picked up Foot Loose and brought Foote Loose over to Harbor Marine in Everett Washington. Harbor Marine is installing my AIS system, automatic pilot system and replacing the hydrolics in the steering.

While the boat has been in the shop I’ve been busy getting my dirt house ready to sell. The current plan is to list on February 19th.

Since January 5th I’ve been getting the house ready to sell. This past week I painted one of the upstairs bedrooms which was a peach color. The ceiling looked kind of like a light peach color although I attributed that to a reflection of the walls. As it turns out the ceiling is a light color peach! I do not plan to paint the ceiling. The Downstairs den also needed painting. Although it didn’t need to be primed like the peach room. After taking the furniture out the the den the carpet was really dirty so that needed to be cleaned. I just finished cleaning that carpet with a rug doctor. We’ll see how that looks tomorrow morning. I hit the high traffic area several times and with any amount of luck the carpet will look much better.

I’ve also been busy selling stuff that I no longer need. Such as board games, a second desk and workstation, chairs and book cases.

#great loop, #cdory, #c-dory, #greatloop, #cbrats, #c-brats, #boating, #cruising, #national Park, #national Parks, #Foote Loose, #Foot loose, # boatupdiningguy, #boat up dining guy

The tach and the motor tilt gauge needed attention. The tach was acting erratically sometimes it would work and sometimes it would bounce back-and-forth. The motor tilt gauge always stayed at full tilt no matter what the angle of the engine was. I took the boat to Boat Country who is a certified Honda repair center. The issue with the tach was a loose nut holding the wire to the tach behind the dash. So all it needed was tightening. The problem with the motor tilt gauge was that it was stuck by the motor. So they unstuck the sensor and lubricated it and now it works just fine. The charge was less than $150 to fix both gauges. What a steal !

#great loop, #cdory, #c-dory, #greatloop, #cbrats, #c-brats, #boating, #cruising, #national Park, #national Parks, #Foote Loose, #Foot loose, # boatupdiningguy, #boat up dining guy, #Honda, #Honda Marine

Spent a couple weeks in Massachusetts scoping out where I will begin the Great Loop and where I will store my boat trailer. It took a couple of tries to meet the person that’s going to allow me to store the trailer at her place while I’m gone. We finally got it done and it will be a fantastic spot to leave the trailer. I also had the opportunity to narrow down where I can begin and the great loop. I’m going to launch from the Galilee Boat Ramp which is South of Providence, Rhode Island right on the Atlantic ocean. It would not be long before I’m able to get into the Long Island Sound.

#great loop, #cdory, #c-dory, #greatloop, #cbrats, #c-brats, #boating, #cruising, #national Park, #national Parks, #Foote Loose, #Foot loose, # boatupdiningguy, #boat up dining guy, #Providence Rhode Island, #Providence, #Galilee Boat Ramp, #Galilee

Today I didn’t get anything done preparing for the Great Loop. My real estate business was real busy. Needed to go to Burlington Washington then Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island then work with a listing here in town then off to Best Buy to have them look at my laptop finished off the day with a church transition meeting and hanging a lock box on our most recent list in Marysville.

#great loop #cdory #c-dory #greatloop #cbrats #c-brats #boating #cruising