Overdue Update

[Bubba the Pirate]

Hello All.  It's been quite a while since I logged in let alone posted anything. 

Short Version:
I bought a Bayfield 29 in July 2019. It was a boat that Capt Kurt posted about here.  I was still in Michigan helping my Dad adjust to his life after we lost Mom, but I flew down to see the boat, bought it, motorsailed up the Cape Fear to a boatyard, and flew back home.

I was back at the boat in Feb 2020. I haven't been at the boat the whole time because I stopped twice to go back on the road and make some more boat money. I ground out, fixed and faired hundreds of blisters, rewired the boat, replumbed the boat, installed a composting head, gave away the furler, rerigged the mast with Dyneema stays, installed a windvane, repowered her with a duplicate (but way newer) Yanmar 2GM20F.

I finally relaunched her as sv Ruth Ann, the first week of December and have been crawling down the East Coast toward warmer weather. I got caught by the icy cold around Xmas in Savannah, but survived. The last couple days, I've been at a friend's dock in Melbourne, FL. They are former cruisers and are kind of swooning to be able to have a "cruiser" at their dock. It might be hard to leave, they are spoiling me here. I will probably head a little further south by the end of the week. I have a couple bigger solar panels on the way. Ft. Pierce is an adopted 'neighborhood' but I may get all the way down to the Keys. I'm also hoping to spend several weeks in the Bahamas before heading back up toward the Carolinas or the Chesapeake or ?? next summer.

I've started to build websites for small businesses; especially (hopefully) fishing charters and sailing/sunset/daysail charters. My goal for 2023 is to let my CDL expire because I don't need trucking to support my boat habit any longer.

Still writing on my blog: https://www.bubbathepirate.com

Ruth Ann on the ICW (taken by a friend):


Ruth Ann, yesterday, Eau Gallie River, Melbourne, FL:


Cheers, everyone!

[wolverine]

Good to hear from you, please keep us up to date with your travels.

I always liked the 29, what is the bridge clearance sans antenna?

[Bubba the Pirate]

I'm using 45' in my head, but it is probably less than 40 feet. I only have my rough estimates adn there isn't much specific info on the web.  I had the mast down for a while and could measure it precisely, but measuring around the shape of the boat to get the distance from the waterline to mast isn't nearly as precise.

[Norman]

 :)  Great to hear you are still sailing, and Ruth Ann is now in shape for long distances.

With respect to letting the CDL expire, keeping that live is a better idea.  The cost and inconvenience of requalifying far outweighs keeping it up.  You should be getting the related physicals any way. I kept my Class A CDL until over 75, along with my FAA Commercial, and Coast Guard license.

All of those have at one time or another provided income that exceeded the cost of getting them, but those costs have greatly increased with law changes and new requirements.  Your old renewed is grandfathered for most of the new requirements.

The future is impossible to predict, and keeping your options as broad as possible is wise.

Back to Ruth Ann, I presume that the trip south was mostly iron genny?  I have sailed on several 29 footers, and that is pretty good space for live aboard, and outside the ICW, and a Bayfield is a fine design for open water.  The Hawk channel along the Keys is a perfect place to practice sailing and reefing in strong winds, as the reef to the south calms the waves with out reducing the wind, and the keys to the north provide many safe anchorages and harbors.

I have spent many days fishing those reefs in a 12 foot semi V outboard.

I have forgotten what your cooking arrangements are, do you have a grill that is suitable for burning drift wood from well above the tide line?  We cooked some of our fish with such wood, quite dry if carefully selected.

Happy sailing!   8)

[Bubba the Pirate]

You are right about the CDL.

Ruth Ann has a two burner alcohol stove. I just wanted to get sailing finally, so I have not thought too much about converting the stove. Space is at a premium everywhere, so I'm not sure where I would put any tankage for propane or some other option. The alcohol is working well and I have adjusted to its eccentricities.

I have solar mounted on my Stern pulpit which basically precludes hanging a grill. However if the dry wood is above the tide line, I could build a fire and cook fish right there; depending on where 'there' is.

[Bob J (ex-misfits)]

I zip tied a 5# propane tank to the rail.

[Frank]

Great to hear from you and really great to hear you’re out and underway!
Keep us posted and you know…

MORE PICTURES!

If you’re headed to Abacos… let’s meet up

Have fun!

[Jim_ME]

Welcome back, Todd.  :)

As Frank said, more photos, please!

Interested in photos of your cruise and of the refit you did getting ready, if you have them.

Fair winds on your cruise farther South. I think Charlie could tell you that he liked the moorings in Boot Key, Marathon, where he was cruising there. They were fairly reasonable then, haven't checked recently--everything has been going up with this inflation...  :o

Hope that you get over to the Abacos, Bahamas to meet up with Frank. I would sure like to do that in the future sometime.

[Bubba the Pirate]

I made connection with the previous owner through a post that Capn Kurt posted here in late June of 2019.

On the way from Little River, SC to a boatyard outside Wilmington, NC.


I didn't believe the PO when he said there were no blisters, not because I thought he was lying, but because a 1984 boat is going to have them. Unfortunately, I had 100s.


After grinding out, fixing, and fairing the blisters, I rewired the boat, replumbed the water system, installed a composting head, rebuilt the bowsprit, and re-rigged the boat with Dyneema.



I also repowered her with a much newer, but duplicate Yanmar 2GM20F.  And renamed her. In the summer of 2019, I lost my mother, found the bought, and then lost Mom's mother. In sv Ruth Ann, Ruth is Grandma's first name, Ann is Mom's middle name. Story here: https://www.bubbathepirate.com/2019/11/the-big-boat-name-reveal.html

[Bubba the Pirate]

I finally left NC the first week of December. It was a pretty embarassing and frustrating week.

The stories are here:
https://www.bubbathepirate.com/2022/12/trying-to-sleep-on-sinking-boat.html
https://www.bubbathepirate.com/2022/12/perhaps-worst-day-part-one.html
https://www.bubbathepirate.com/2022/12/perhaps-worst-day-part-two.html

Leaving the boatyard after 3 years:


After a beautifully executed solo docking procedure, the lunch crowd at Greg Norman's Autralian Grille, Myrtle Beach, didn't even seem to care:


More later. There's lots on my blog at https://www.bubbathepirate.com

[Frank]

Thanks SO much for the update, blog links and pictures!
I’ve got some reading ahead of me …..
So happy you’re underway!

[Bob J (ex-misfits)]

Read your blog last couple of mornings while having coffee. Nice!

[Bubba the Pirate]

Thanks, Bob J & Frank!

[CapnK]

Wish we could have met up s you went by! Will catchup on the blog, seen a few posts on IG tho...

[Bubba the Pirate]

I'll be heading back up the coast in May or so. It would be good fun to meetup.

[wolverine]

I'll be heading back up the coast in May or so. It would be good fun to meetup.

Send me a PM if you'll be stopping in Oriental, NC and I'll buy you lunch or dinner.  I'd love to hear of your journey.

[Bubba the Pirate]

FYI - I've been tidying up and finishing some projects  where it's convenient to my mail service. I'm still in FL, Green Cove Springs. I need to get out of the hurricane zone. I'll be heading north in a week or two.

[CapnK]

How far N are you going to go? GA has some great hidey holes, as does SC.

[Bubba the Pirate]

Sorry to be a poor correspondent.

I am aiming for Oriental which might become my summer base. I also have some tools, a Sailrite machine, and a bike at the boatyard outside of Wilmington that I either need to store somewhere or sell. Would love to get to the Chesapeake in late sunmer/early fall.

[Bubba the Pirate]

Couple recent blog posts too. The first one makes some odd connections back thru my past. The second is long but I'm kinda proud of it.

https://www.bubbathepirate.com/2023/05/the-summer-wind-was-blowin-in.html

https://www.bubbathepirate.com/2023/06/my-little-cove.html