Yesterday afternoon, with the bottom paint dried, the mast returned to its upright position, the solar panels installed, and the conversion completed, Seas the Day was lifted back on the crane, traveled to the haulout slip, and eased back into the water.  The new engines were started and Mark, Joel, and Betrand motored over to a wet slip at the marina. 

Joel and Betrand checked out all the new components as well as everything connected to them and only discovered one small problem, which required a new fan.  That was ordered from France and will arrive next week.   They removed the paper coverings they had placed on the floors, vacuumed up the small mess they had made, and left.  It was amazing after the massive job they did that there was so little evidence of it when they were done.  The care and skill the Frenchmen took in every step of the process was fantastic.  They have converted almost all of the 420 hybrids, with only 2 or 3 left in the world, several in Australia and one in Scotland.  (There might be more, but no one seems to be willing or able to tell us.)  Due to the unreliability, owners have had to convert them for safety reasons as we did, or in order to sell them.  The average time that people usually keep a boat is three years, so many of the 420’s built in 2007 and 2008 have new owners now, or are for sale.  Ours is a 2008 and is hull #71.

We had hoped that Joel and Bertrand could take us out to the ocean for a sea trial, but some of the instruments on the mast had not been reconnected by the riggers.  Mark was able to fix the connections after they left so we could use the chart plotter and radar.  Today we motored down the New River with our friends Mike and Nancy from JMJ (another 420 hybrid that was converted before they bought it last year). About ten minutes later we reached the 7th Avenue Bridge and it would not open.  There are four bridges that have to open for us on the way out to the ocean.  After about a half hour of holding our position in front of the bridge, we decided to return to the marina and try again tomorrow.  Just as we got back to the marina, we heard on the VHF radio that the bridge was fixed, so we turned around and headed back.  Suddenly there was a crack of thunder and we looked in the sky to see dark clouds in the distance.  The forecast had predicted rain in the late evening, not the early afternoon.  Checking the radar, it appeared that it would miss us, so we continued.  By the time we got to the 17th Avenue Bridge, which is the entrance to the inlet and the ocean, the rain was pouring down, the wind had picked up, and there were white caps on the river.  We made the decision to turn around again, but first pulled into a fuel dock to fill up our new second fuel tank.  When it was installed, a few gallons of diesel were put in it, but we needed more as each sail drive works off its own fuel tank and with no fuel, one sail drive won’t work.  From what we have heard, our new fuel efficiency should be much better than with the hybrid system since we had to run our large diesel genset when we motored to keep the system fully charged.

The photo above is Mark taking us back into the Lauderdale Marine Center.  The yellow jacket on the seat is his rain gear and by the time we got back, the squall had passed us and it was sunny again.  Everything seems to be working so we will stay at the dock until we are ready to leave for Miami to cross to the Bahamas, hopefully in less than two weeks. 

We were told that the diesel engines would feel different than our electric engine and Mark did notice that it was not as easy to maneuver with these more powerful engines.  Part of the reason is that the propellers for the hybrid system were larger and located in front of the rudders.  The new props are behind the rudders.  There is also a different feel to the throttle, so it will take a bit of getting used to the changes.  Still, he did an expert job of taking us down the river while meeting quite a few megayachts on their way to the boatyard we are at, and the Jungle Queen tour boat in the narrow waterway.  He backed us into our new slip without a tap on the docks, and we easily tied up.  Thanks to Mike and Nancy for their help as they are more experienced with the diesels and gave us some helpful tips.

Further delaying the Bahamas cruise is a trip Mark needs to make back to Minnesota to take care of moving our household goods into a storage unit. His house is finally sold and we need to empty the garage where we had stored what we kept after the estate sale almost four years ago.  He’ll leave Monday and return to Fort Lauderdale the following Tuesday, April 10.  I will stay here with Daisy and spend most of my time cleaning the inside and outside of the boat.  The deck and salon roof are dirty from sitting on the hard in the boatyard so I’m sure that will take days of scrubbing.  There are quite a few shoe prints in the dirt, which are difficult to remove.  Most are from Mark as he was on the roof installing the solar panels, so we can’t blame it on the workers.

Tomorrow we will drive to Stuart with a final carload of boxes to go into a storage unit there. We had rented a unit in Fort Lauderdale to get items out of the way during the conversion, but realized how nice it was not to have things stacked on the guest beds, so we will continue to keep a small unit in Stuart. 

Another chore on my to-do list for next week is to bring the SUV to a body shop.  A month ago we were cut off by a speeding, lane changing driver and there was damage to the front corner of the car. We filed a claim, but his insurance is terrible and they have put us off each time we’ve checked with the adjustor.  Apparently they “can’t reach” the driver to come in for an estimate and pictures of his car.  We are running out of time, so we had to file a claim with our insurance and will pay the deductible until it can (hopefully) be recovered from his insurance.  Also, Daisy needs to get her paperwork to enter the Bahamas, which involves a checkup at the vet.  I’ll be buying some provisions for the trip, but since we’ll only be gone for two months or less, we won’t need too much.  As always, the list of things to do is endless, but hopefully the last item, leave for the Bahamas, will be crossed off soon.