Tag Archives: Jekyll Island

Survey and Sea Trial – Key West, Florida, USA, January 27, 2025

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Survey and Sea Trial – Key West, Florida, USA, January 27, 2025

It’s our first day back on the water for the survey and sea trial of “Greenlights.”  That is the name of the boat we are looking at.  She is a 2018 40-foot Leopard.  It is a 3 cabin, owner’s version and for only being a couple feet wider and longer than our prior Mariposa, quite spacious!  Captain Ron did a lot of homework and got us the best surveyor in southern Florida – Jonathan.  Not only is Jonathan a good surveyor but he is also a rigger and will do our rigging inspection as well today.  He started out the survey by simply going through the boat and testing every single system looking for any issues.  We have formally put in an offer which we would have a chance to edit before a final agreement can be reached.

Johnathan doing his thing.

The upsides and why we like this boat are the layout is much bigger, there are low hours on both engines and the generator, she has never been chartered, majority of the upholstery work has already been done (except the dinghy chaps), She is a Leopard and not a Lagoon (which is know for having major issues to its bulkheads), we have a front door and wider decks which will be safer in stormy weather.

Thanks to Jonathan’s diligence, here are the main issues we found: 

  1. It had a grounding early on in its life and had both sacrificial keels ripped off and repaired. Thankfully they were repaired properly.
  2. She needs a new bottom job.  This is one of Ron’s least favorite things to do but this should be better than the last one he did as it only needs a light sanding this time and a couple coats of bottom paint which we can do ourselves in Key West.
  3. Several windows in the kitchen are starting to delaminate.  We had the same issue on Mariposa and it is a known issue on Leopard boats.
  4. While it is equipped with a propane stove and oven this is something we will take out and switch to induction.  We are also going to replace the grill with the same Weber one we had on the other boat.
  5. The batteries are lead acid batteries and not much solar.  We will immediately invest to upgrade her to lithium and eventually add more solar when we get somewhere Ron can weld up a solar arch which needs to be added.
  6. The dinghy is old and in poor condition.  It does work and you never want the prettiest dinghy on the dock, but we will essentially drive this one for the first year and plan to replace it soon.  The good news is Ron is happier with the Yamaha engine since our last dinghy had a Tohatsu he hated.
  7. Our generator and both fuel tanks leak. 
  8. The water maker was pickled so we didn’t get to test this and are going on the honor system for this one.  I am glad it has one we are just hoping it works.
  9. The radar doesn’t work properly.  Ron is hoping he can fix this by cleaning up the connections, but we need to be prepared to replace this if necessary.
  10. There is no life raft on board which we will need to purchase to go offshore.
  11. The standing rigging needs a lot of work and was the biggest surprise we found.  Essentially the rigging needs completely replaced before we can even raise the sails.  Having lost one boat to being demasted, this replacement is at the top of our list.

We made edits to our offer based on the new information from the survey and now we wait to see if they will agree to lowering the price to cover the issues we found.  The overall process is much like buying a house.  It is nerve racking, and the pushy owners made it as difficult as possible.  So, while we were waiting for the final survey document from Jonathan, we headed back to Jekyll Island to visit with my parents again.  After a week and a half, I think they were ready for us to go!  Thankfully, we got through the boat buying process with all the paperwork and wire transfers completed and we pick up the boat February 10th. 

Ron found a place to store the RV in Brunswick, Georgia so we spent a few days at Mom & Dad’s cleaning it out, waxing the exterior, and wiping down the inside with vinegar.  Whew!  Changing homes again takes quite a bit of work!  We ended up dropping off the RV to storage and picking up a rental car in Jacksonville, Georgia.  On the morning of the 10th we said goodbye to Mom & Dad and drove the 10 hour trip to Key West to pick her up!  Mariposa 2.0 here we come 😊.

Purgatory Hell – Jekyll Island, GA USA, September 4, 2024

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Purgatory Hell – Jekyll Island, GA USA, September 4, 2024

It has been over 8 weeks now and we just kinda heard from insurance.  We are somehow supposed to exercise diplomacy and patience but man it is hard!  As of now here is what we know…the insurer has one quote from a salvage company and is waiting on a second one (hopefully we will get one in the next day or so) and they will “tell us what our options are.”  Let’s translate this.  It means the insurer likely wants to total the boat and is trying to get the highest bid possible for the salvage boat.  If we cannot match or beat the bid then…we have to make some tough choices.  We need to decide if we even want to keep the boat, if so how much would we offer insurance to keep her and if we cannot come to an agreement, Ron has to go down again and retrieve the rest of our personal belongings and give the boat to the insurer to do with what they will.  One decision we have made is that we are not done sailing.  I am not sure the timing or what it would look like but more adventure to come and boy have we learned a lot through this entire process.

In the meantime, we have spent our time visiting out daughters in Ohio (daughter #1 was home from Spain so we took advantage of that).  Now we are back visiting my parents preparing for Ron’s likely trip back to Grenada.  We are also watching the weather as we are still in the peak time for additional hurricanes, which may impact Ron’s trip and frankly, the boat overall.  My Mother has had some recent health concerns and my Dad needed help building a shed in his back yard. Those along with a few other projects seem to keep he and Ron busy.  Note, we currently have the RV here in Georgia and if a hurricane is on track to hit  here, we will need to move the RV inland.  But it has been great to see family, Ron and I have started running here on the island which is beautiful, and depending on the decision from insurance, we may use this as a jumping off point to head west til Christmas…

Beauty everywhere!
Drift wood beach.

As far as the people of Carriacou, they still have no power, aid relief workers and food is no longer arriving, and the looting has begun on the island bringing concern for what will be left even if we do decide to keep the boat.  So far, the boat yard has cut all the rigging we had planned to save making a fix to her even more unlikely and it is certain we will need to have her moved to Clark’s Court Grenada in order to have any work done.  With the keels damaged, no mast, and a laundry list of other issues, I am not certain the boat is seaworthy enough to “sail” her south to get all of the items done.  Not to mention Clark’s Court doesn’t have room for us nor is any of the talent available til mid-November at the earliest cutting short any sailing season we may have.  So many decisions, it will be an interesting few weeks from here.

Not Just Another Rainy Day – September 29, 2022, Jekyll Island, GA USA

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Not Just Another Rainy Day – September 29, 2022, Jekyll Island, GA USA

Our time was up at the Airbnb in St. Augustine Beach, and we had to move again (which of course made us realize we have entirely TOO much stuff)!  Anyway, the plan was to visit Mom and Dad for a few days and head to Columbus to see the kids Wednesday morning.  Well, Hurricane Ian changed our plans.  Mom and Dad had decided to ride out the storm so we decided to stay as well in case anything happened, we could help clean it up.  They have quite a few mature trees not only in their yard but on the island in general. 

We went to bed Wednesday evening and woke up Thursday morning to no power and a downed power line across the driveway.  I remember seeing the flash when the power went out at 11:30pm so I was none too surprised.  We soon learned that half a dozen houses down, a tree had snapped breaking three high voltage lines.  I was impressed the crews were there by 8:00am to not only clear the tree but also to fix the lines.  We were supposed to have power back by noon Thursday.

So, like any family ruffing it during the hurricane, we drove to the other side of the island where they still had power and went out to breakfast!  Gotta have coffee.  Sadly though, when we came home, all the crews were gone, and out new estimate was to have power at noon…Friday.  Bummer.  So, Dad and Ron hooked up the generator and we all took a shower with what was left of the hot water. 

Seeing as how we had little to do but sit in the dark at home and wait out the storm, we took a couple of drives around the island to see the damage and storm surge.  Midday and high tide brought increased winds, rain, flooding, and storm surge.

The track of Ian has been wobbly at best and while Jekyll was predicted to be hit much worse, the shallow marshes surrounding it make is a fantastic hurricane hole.  The storm jumped around us only to change its path towards South Carolina.  Ian initially made landfall on the west coast of Florida at a Category 4 (nearly a 5 with 155MPH winds).  It could have been much worse, and I am grateful.   More to come as this passes over us and we get through the incoming rain.