Sailing Away on MARA BEEL: Fall Cleaning

Who knew there is so much to clean on a boat before putting it away for the long, cold winter? I think we have laundered everything except money today. The morning began with changing the oil in both engines (Caterpillar 3208 diesels, for those who want to know). 13 quarts of oil per engine. Then, Mark helped change the transmission oil- 2 quarts, and the generator- another 4 quarts. Now we have nice, clean oil and oil filters (5 0f those). In the spring we will replace 5 fuel filters. Mark is really smart about all of this- must be his farm background.


Mark in the engine room.

Next, we cleaned the bilge. One of the guys at the boatyard here told us how to get it so clean that we could have sex down there. Mark put something called Northwoods Trapper in the bilge (if you don't know what the bilge is, Google it.) It smells like oranges. After a few minutes, Mark scrubbed it with a long-handled brush and hosed it with hot water. My job was to control the valve from the water heater and the water pump- the first time I have actually worked in the engine room. Then Mark used the boatyard's sewage sucking hose to remove the dirty water in a jiffy. The bilge area is much cleaner, and fresh-smelling now. But, no....

Meanwhile, we took down all of the curtains (15 windows) and I hauled them to a dry cleaner. We won't hang them until spring.

Next I loaded the settee cushions into our truck and we took them to Menominee, Michigan, this evening to have the foam in them replaced during the winter.

We had ring-side seats to the moving of a 75-foot sport fisher today. It has been refurbished at Palmer Johnson Yachts, a few blocks from here. The Great Lakes guys moved in down the streets with their TravelLift and then put in in the water near us. This boat was purchased in San Francisco and traveled here on her own bottom. After the fishing superstructure is attached, she will sail to the east coast. Unbelievable $$ in this project.