The Time Has Come!

Tide Pool is hauled at the marina and is prepared for the road! The big day has finally arrived – this was the moment we have been working for. Everything needed to be ready to go for this date.

The effort to get Tide Pool fitted out started last winter. Fitting out and provisioning started with a serious liferaft, emergency beacon, emergency sea anchor. We spent countless hours researching equipment and upgraded our ground tackle (anchors and chain). We now have a larger primary anchor – a Delta 35lb with 100 feet of chain and 200 feet of nylon line. Our secondary anchor is an aluminum Fortress with 40 feet of chain and 150 of line in the forward anchor locker. We saved the Delta 22 that came with the boat and a spare anchor rode in the aft cockpit locker. We’ll use this in case we need to cut one of the other free in an emergency.

Fitting out also included a third high water/high capacity bilge pump running independently off of the forward battery system. We have upgraded the primary electrical, bought all new electronics including radar and three independent GPS systems. The Ditch Bag includes the EPIRB, handheld gps, handheld VHF, lots of Cliff Bars, water, flashlight and other fun stuff that we will likely never need. We have installed water purifiers (at each sink), added a heavy duty windshield wiper. The console electric has been reorganized with a secondary electric panel. And the piece-de-resistance – two new Rolls 4D deep cycle batteries in the compartment – these babies will run our fridge for 3 days straight if needed without charging.

Provisioning is complete except for the perishables that we will pick up in Florida. A $1000 trip to Cost Co. and K-Mart took care of most of the basics. We also brought 12 bottles of sunscreen, shampoo, toothpaste, diapers – it really adds up. Of course we cannot forget Bentley – he has 60lbs of dog food on board (we have been tracking how much he eats and this will just cover it. Batteries, camera tapes, IPod, paper, pencils school materials for Tide Pool Academy.
We have all of the basic spares for the Yanmar diesel, spare oil, filters etc. Anything unusual, we will fly in. We have a portable generator to run the battery charger for the weeks that we are on the hook away from civilization and shore power. The dinghy and outboard have been prepped and ready to go.

We have charts, guidebooks, electronic charts for the chart plotters.

In short, we have done everything we possibly can. The boat is ready. Now we just need to get on an airplane and meet the boat at Cracker Boy Marina in Florida. We’ll wait for a weather window at Sailfish Marina on Singer Island before making the passage to West End on Grand Bahama island.
Posted by Dad