The GB

Missing Her

They say you know when your vacation is long enough when you start thinking about work, again. My break away from the Blue Moon voyage must be almost up, because I am definitely thinking about her!


The new engine is on order and should be delivered on or about June 7th. It wasnt easy to choose one. Heres what I was hoping to get:

• at least 15 hp
• 25" shaft
• as high a gear ratio as possible (3:1)
• as big a prop as possible
• as light as possible
• as reliable as possible
• as fuel efficient as possible
• easy to find repair people (on east coast of US)

Dealers call this a sailboat motor, or a high thrust motor. Its designed not for speed, but for power. And since the Blue Moon displaces about 8,000 lbs, power is whats needed.

Unfortunately, no one makes an outboard that meets all these criteria. The closest I could find was the 10hp Yamaha T9.9 GEXH. This is a bit less horse power than I was hoping for, but all the 15hp high thrust engines are designed for powerboats and come with power tilt and all sorts of things I dont need. This makes them more expensive, heavier, and too big for my bracket.

However, practically every cruiser I talked to on the Okeechobee Waterway recommended the T9.9 from their own practical experience. They say that the high gear ratio and big prop more than make up for the missing horse power, and that it should be plenty for my little 23 boat.

Heres hoping that I never mention my engine again in a blog post!


One thing Im really looking forward to is having lots more electricity than before. The T9.9 comes with a 6A alternator that will put out twice as much power as my solar panel. This should be a big help in keeping my batteries charged. Im going to redo the wiring in the boat (I cant make heads or tails of the current wiring) and install a 12v reading lamp, a fan that Im definitely going to need for sleeping, and some sockets that will make plugging in my solar panels, cell phone and computer charger, etc., much easier and neater. Ive been dealing with a kind of rats nest of wiring, and Im looking forward to cleaning that up.

Speaking of cleaning up, Ive been redoing my List. Ive touched on my cargo several times but, in a nutshell, I started this voyage with waaaaaaaay too much stuff! My cargo hold in the beginning was jam packed, making it difficult to move around the boat and inconveninent to get at things. I had things containerized in Rubbermaid plastic boxes, labeled Food and Clothes and Equipment and Books, and although the boxes were better than having everything rollling around in a pig pile on the floor, they took up a lot of space.


I have been shedding unnecessary stuff on a more or less continuous basis so that I should be down to 2 plastic boxes, a duffel bag, and a few hammock. I hope to be able to have the cabin floor empty by the time I leave the dock, this time.

By the way, I keep forgetting to mention that I took the advice offered by several readers and painted the Blue Moons entire deck with non-skid paint. I did this way back in Sarasota, while recovering from my infection, but kept forgetting to mention it.


I added Interlux Intergrip to two pints of White and Bristol Beige Brightside paint, and gave the deck, cockpit, and anchor well a second coat of paint, that they needed, anyway. This made the whole deck, from stem to stern, non-skid and it has really, really made a difference. I havent banged my shin since applying it. Huge difference.

The sad thing is that I actually had the Intergrip from the beginning. I always intended to add it to the second coat of paint. The problem is, I ran out of paint in Steinhatchee, and that is not a good place to run out of paint (or anything else). The nearest West Marine that had my paint in stock was in Jacksonville, and I was too impatient to drive there to get it. Big mistake!

Live and learn, I guess.

Next Episode: On the road again

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Follow me on Twitter! My son Chris has been bugging me for a few weeks to use Twitter to make short, more frequent posts from my iPhone, for when I dont have the time for longer blog posts. I dont know how it will work out, but Im willing to give it a try! My Twitter ID is UnlikelyVoyager (UnlikelyBoatBuilder is too long, apparently), and the URL is http://twitter.com/UnlikelyVoyager. Twitter me back, or leave a comment below, if you think this is worth while. Thanks, Chris!

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