Well another season is on the books. We weren’t sure how cruising during the COVID pandemic would go. It turns out Warbird is a perfect place to social distance!
The first stop on our summer trip was Washington DC. Jim was scheduled to fly his P51 Mustang “OLD CROW” in the forth of July celebrations. The crew prepped the boat and departed Fort Lauderdale and was greeted by perfect weather for the 900 mile trip to the mouth of the Potomac River.
The process of wrapping the hull took a bit longer than we expected. Looking back we should have booked our yard time in the shed so we didn’t have to deal with weather! Overall Burl and the crew from Boatwraps.com hung in there and completed an awesome job. The entire hull was wrapped in a 3M material color “Anthracite Grey.” We then had a coat of ceramic placed on top of the wrap too help protect it from the elements. The final result was a complete change of the look of the boat. The new color now complements the name “Warbird”
The last major project before the summer season is installing a wrap on the hull. The original paint is at the end of it’s life. We are planning a complete paint job of the vessel next winter. We wanted to try a wrap on the hull ahead of time see how how it holds up. If were not happy with the results then we will end op removing the wrap and painting it. Boat wrapping has been around for years and is gaining ground in the large yacht industry. We decided on a metallic grey color called Anthracite. Here are some pics of the process.
After a long hiatus due to the COVID19 epidemic, Warbird is getting ready to sail again. Everybody in the Warbird family has remained safe and healthy during the past few months. The crew is ready to get back to a some what normal schedule and back on the water. We maintained a rotating schedule during the virus peak to ensure proper maintenance and cleaning was completed.
Warbird has two 40KW Onan generators that produce power when were away from the dock. They have been reliable, but getting up there in hours. (8000) We decided to used the down time during to have each of them completely rebuilt. We only worked on one at a time just in case we needed a generator in emergency. No screw was left unturned, the rebuild included all sensors, pumps, hoses, ect.. The entire top and bottom end was changed out with a new block. The generator end was send out for a complete rewire and winding.
We are at about the half way point of our annual yard period. We are scheduled to launch back in the water in two weeks! Once launched we will have two weeks for sea trials before heading to the Caribbean. There are hundreds of tasks and checks that will need to happen between now and then. The crew is doing a good job of keeping things moving at a proper pace. Here are some update photos showing some of the different jobs happening.
After covering over 12,000 nautical miles in the last 13 months, it’s time for Warbird to undergo some repairs and maintenance. Warbird went into Lauderdale Marine Center in Fort Lauderdale for its annual service period. During this time we perform scheduled maintenance, make repairs, upgrade systems, and reset the boat for another year of great cruising. In addition to hundreds of smaller tasks that will be completed, the following is a list of some of the larger items we are planning to complete.
1) Delivery another round of supplies from the US.
2) Fill and deliver over 200 gallons of gasoline in forty 5 gallon containers.
3) Verify the best location of our SATCOM equipment.
4) Evacuate any locals on the ground.
5) Be back in the air heading home by 1100.